Miller's unfinished World Cup business

It wasn't the image David Miller would have wanted to send into the world, but it was the perfect picture for the moment. In the mad minutes before the scene was beamed across the world, India had beaten South Africa by seven runs in the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados.

Now Miller stood, barely, unable to stop the tears as he leant on his wife, Camilla Harris, who cradled him with exquisite tenderness.

South Africa had needed 16 off six when Miller hoisted Hardik Pandya's wide full toss towards the long-off boundary - where Suryakumar Yadav caught the ball, threw it up, tumbled over the cushions, and then tumbled back onto the field in time to snare the ball again before it bounced. It was more a miracle than a catch.

If that stroke had gone for six, South Africa would have needed 10 off five with Miller on strike. If that stroke had gone for six, another team's name might well have been on the trophy. If that stroke had only gone for six.

And here we are, a year, five months and nine days later, and 62 days before the start of the next edition of the tournament in Sri Lanka and India.

It seems too soon, but that doesn't matter. What matters, to South Africans, is how their team might go one step further this time.

"I've spoken to a lot of different people, and teams who have been very successful over the years with different trophies and World Cups," Miller told a press conference in Cuttack on Monday. What had that experience taught him?

"I don't think there's one recipe to win a World Cup. I think it takes a group effort, management and players included. It's standing up when the moments matter."

Did losing in Bridgetown still hurt, especially as it came after South Africa had won all eight of their other games at the tournament?

"I thought it was a fantastic final. We were just short at the end, but all in all we found ways to win. There were some very close games throughout for us and we got over the line, so you build confidence as you go along."

Live and learn, Miller seemed to say: "We're going to need some of that moving forward in a couple of months' time. There's a huge pool of players putting up their hands so it's going to be tough for the selectors. I think we're really in a good space.

"We've got some world-class players and we're going to have to make sure that we properly switch on for every game."

The South Africans will need to flick a switch in their five-match T20I series that starts in Cuttack on Tuesday. Since that final they've won only nine of their 25 T20Is, which includes a 3-1 thumping by India in South Africa in November 2024. They're also fresh off a flat performance in the third and deciding ODI in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, when India won by nine wickets with 10.1 overs to spare.

Miller wasn't part of that disappointment, nor of 44 of the 54 white-ball games South Africa have played since the final. He was given permission to miss the series in Australia in August in order for him to play in the Hundred, and has since been out with a hamstring injury.

Now he's back with another World Cup looming. Camilla deserves a different outcome this time.