David Miller Criticizes ICC Over Champions Trophy 2025 Scheduling

South Africa’s star batter, David Miller, indirectly criticized the International Cricket Council (ICC) after his team lost the Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal against New Zealand.

Both South Africa and Australia, semifinalists from Group B, had to travel to Dubai after completing their group stage matches.

This was due to uncertainty surrounding India’s opponent for the semifinals, which was only determined after India defeated New Zealand in their third league match.

Following India’s win over New Zealand, South Africa, who had traveled to Dubai, had to return to Pakistan since their semifinal was scheduled to take place in Lahore.

Meanwhile, Australia played their semifinal against India in Dubai. South Africa faced New Zealand, with Miller pointing out that traveling to Dubai was not an ideal situation for his team.

Miller on the Travel Hassle

Despite the short flight duration of approximately an hour and forty minutes, Miller expressed frustration about the travel arrangement.

“It’s only an hour-and-40-minute flight, but the fact that we had to do that [was not ideal],” Miller said.

“It’s early morning, it’s after a game, and we had to fly. Then we got to Dubai at 4 pm. And at 7:30 in the morning, we had to come back. It doesn’t make it nice. It’s not like we flew five hours, and we had enough time to recover and recuperate. But it was not an ideal situation still.”

Miller was the standout performer for South Africa in the semifinal. Coming in at number six, he smashed a century in just 67 balls—the fastest hundred in Champions Trophy history.

The previous record belonged to Virender Sehwag, who scored a 77-ball century against England in the 2002 edition at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Record-Breaking Performance in Knockout Matches

With this achievement, Miller became the first South African player to score two centuries in knockout matches of ICC events.

His previous century came against Australia in the 2023 World Cup semifinal at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Despite his heroics, South Africa suffered a 50-run defeat to New Zealand, who advanced to the final, where they would face India at the Dubai International Stadium on March 9.

Criticism of Tournament Scheduling

David Miller openly criticized the ICC’s scheduling of the Champions Trophy 2025, becoming the first cricketer in the tournament to do so.

He pointed out that South Africa was the only team that traveled to Dubai without playing against India.

Since India had refused to travel to Pakistan for the tournament, teams playing against them had to shuttle between Pakistan and Dubai.

Bangladesh, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Australia all traveled between the two locations to face India. However, South Africa was caught in a unique situation, having to travel after their group match in Karachi without knowing their semifinal opponent until India’s final group match.

Miller’s criticism came as a stark contrast to the general sentiment among players and coaches, most of whom downplayed the inconvenience.

South African all-rounder Marco Jansen had even joked about playing golf in Dubai ahead of the semifinals.

Struggles in the Semifinal Run Chase

Despite Miller’s century, South Africa was unable to chase down New Zealand’s formidable target of 363 runs. Miller acknowledged that the deteriorating pitch made the chase even tougher.

“It’s not easy chasing 360 even if it’s a good wicket. I think the wicket just deteriorated as the game went on, and they spun the ball a lot more than us. It’s just that they got a little bit more purchase out of the wicket,” he said.

New Zealand’s innings had been powered by centuries from Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson, helping them post the highest-ever total in Champions Trophy history—362/6.

Miller’s Support for New Zealand in the Final

Following their defeat, Miller revealed that he would be supporting New Zealand in the final against India.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand,” Miller stated.

Although India had remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and entered the final as favorites, Miller believed the Black Caps had the potential to pull off an upset.