🕊 Feeling settled
David Miller's renaissance, India at the French Open & Qatar's logistical issues ahead of the WC
How long does it take to fill in the post IPL void? Any suggestions for activities to engage in between 7:30-11pm? Asking for a friend!
Gary Kirsten’s role in the Miller renaissance
While David Miller has been one of the stories of the IPL this year, his performances aren’t quite the anomaly they’ve been made out to be. In 2021, he averaged 47.1 for the Proteas at a strike rate of 149.6 in 15 games. Barring the T20 WC, he’s arguably been South Africa’s best player in the format in the past year. It was only in the IPL that his star had faded in recent times.
"Although I felt really good playing for South Africa (it was about) finding that gap (in an IPL team). That's what happened this season. It allows you to not worry about the selection and you can focus on winning games,” he said in an interview to Cricbuzz.
Miller taking centerstage for Gujarat this year is in large part down to how he was supported in the wings by the support staff. Gary Kirsten’s long association with Miller has had a major role to play in his resurgence.
While he was coach of South Africa between 2011 and 2013, Kirsten championed young players like De Kock and Miller who were finding their feet in international cricket. Kirsten continued working with the team as a batting mentor after his stint as head coach and was a part of the Proteas backroom team during the 2015 World Cup. Batting in the middle-order, Miller was a key player in the team’s run to the semi-final. He scored an impressive 275 runs in the campaign including an unbeaten 138 against Zimbabwe in South Africa’s opening game.
"I just wanted to be like Gary Kirsten. He was the only other South African to score a hundred in a World Cup game. I really enjoyed working with Gary over the last year. It was great experience to be a part of that hundred and have that under my belt,” he said at the time.
The two also briefly worked together at Durban Heat in the Mzansi League, where Kirsten was coach and Miller was one of the team’s marquee players.
“I’ve known David for a long time and know what is required to get the best out of him,” Kirsten said in an interview to Moneycontrol.
While Miller has pointed to the role Kirsten played in fine-tuning technical aspects ofhis game , Kirsten said his bigger focus was on preparing Miller mentally.
“It’s less about what I tell him. He is a senior player and understands his game. It is more around the kind of environment that’s set up for him. I’ve always been aware of the importance of that environment for him. If he feels comfortable and feels like he can make a contribution, then he thrives,” Kirsten said.
Hardik Pandya too spoke about the support and clarity that Miller has been afforded this season after the South African’s swashbuckling knock in Qualifier 1. Miller played all 16 games of GT’s campaign and scored more runs than he has in the past four seasons put together.
Maybe the Beatles were right, maybe all you need is love.
Hurdle after hurdle after hurdle
Last week, 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji broke the national record for a staggering third time in sixteen days. The first of the three came at the Cyprus International Meet earlier this month, where her timing of 13.23 seconds broke the previous record of 13.38 that had stood for 20 years. Her latest feat came at the Harry Schulting Games in Nederlands, where she clocked 13.04 seconds.
How did her coach James Hillier celebrate? By running around the arena and car park looking for someone from the Doping Authority of Nederlands.
Allow us to explain why.
Hillier’s reaction stems from what happened at the All India Inter-University Athletics meet in 2020. Despite posting a timing of 13.03s, Yarraji was denied the national record because she wasn’t tested by the National Anti-Doping Agency after the race and there wasn’t a technical representative from the Athletics Federation of India. Both of these are requirements for a national record to be ratified. In April this year, her timing of 13.09s again didn’t make it into the record books as it was deemed a wind assisted run. The ruling left Yarraji in a flood of tears after the race.
Hillier didn’t want another record chalked off Yarraji after her showing last week. But, tracking down a doping officer in Nederlands proved to have as many hurdles as the race itself. Hillier detailed the ordeal in an interview with ESPN.
It was a national holiday in the country on the day of the race and he was unable to get in touch with anyone from the doping agency. When he did eventually get through to the head of the agency the next day, Hillier caught him in the middle of a run in the forest. Owing to poor network, they couldn’t hear each other!
Eventually, a male doping office was tracked down but it was a three-hour drive away. Arranging a ride for the journey was only part of the problem; the doping office didn’t have a female chaperone.
But, luck finally favoured them and by the time they reached the office, a female chaperone had been organised. It was the neighbour of the official who happened to be a nurse. A doping test needs to be conducted within 24 hours of the completion of the race; Yarraji’s was done in the 22nd hour.
Talk about fine margins!
Persons of Interest
Much like Real Madrid last Saturday, Rohan Bopanna is having a moment in Paris. He stormed into the semi-finals of the men’s doubles at the French Open with his Dutch partner Matwe Middelkoop. The last time Bopanna played a men’s doubles semi-final of a Grand Slam was at Wimbledon in 2015.
The journey to the semis has been no joy ride. In the third round, they came back from a set down and clawed their way back from five match points to defeat the reigning Olympic and Wimbledon champions, Mektić and Pavić. The quarterfinal went into a super-tiebreaker (first to ten points) in the third set and after going 3-0 down, the two won 10 straight points in an astonishing display of tennis.
The intensity of Bopanna’s game and the passion of his celebrations in the aftermath of the quarter-final belied his age. At 42, Bopanna is the oldest player in the ATP Top 70 and had said in an interview earlier this year that he is approaching his career on a month by month basis. Bopanna contemplated retirement in 2019 owing to his dwindling physicality and weak knees.Iyengar Yoga, which he took up during lockdown in 2020, coupled with an emphasis on fitness work has helped elongate his career.
It will be Bopanna and Middelkoop’s first appearance in a French Open men’s doubles semi when they take on 12th seeds Rojer and Arévalo on Thursday. But, the Bangalorean has previously tasted silverware in Paris. His mixed-doubles title at the French Open in 2017 was the last time an Indian won a Grand Slam.
Direct Hits
In terms of size and population, Qatar is the smallest country to host the FIFA World Cup. Naturally, this has thrown up logistical issues with chief among them being accommodation.
In last week’s edition:
Everything you need to know about the Women T20 Challenge
A Brief Timeline of the Nikhat Zareen - Mary Kom feud
Harsha Bhogle’s return to quizzing
Read it here!
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