It wasn't easy. Of course not. But, after David Miller's intervention to reroute South Africa's innings, it looked easy. Why wasn't their 76-run win over India in a T20 World Cup Super Eights game in Ahmedabad on Sunday easy?

"It wasn't easy," Miller confirmed. "Playing against India is always really difficult. They've got an incredible team. When it's two big teams [against each other], it's about making sure you do the simple things right for a longer period of time. When the pressure comes, you absorb it and get through it."

South Africa were 20/3 after four overs when Miller took guard. He shared 97 off 51 with Dewald Brevis and 35 off 21 with Tristan Stubbs, and scored 63 off 35 with seven fours and three sixes in a total of 187/7.

Then Marco Jansen took 4/22 and Keshav Maharaj claimed 3/24 in India's reply of 111 in 18.5 overs. South Africa's thumping victory was India's second-heaviest defeat in T20Is batting second. The match was a moment of truth for both teams, who won all four of their group matches going into Sunday's game.

What had the result taught Miller? "That India are beatable." What had the South Africans learnt about themselves? "In a tournament like this, it's about making sure we stay in our lane and getting the job done. And to keep wanting more.

"We're a mature team. A lot of our guys have played a lot of cricket and played a lot together too. That goes a long way [when you're] under pressure."

Like South Africa were when Miller walked to the middle after Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram and Ryan Rickelton had been dismissed.

"It felt really good to put a performance like that against India, a big team, in a big game," Miller said. "But in those situations it's about making sure you're really in good positions and not loose. I make sure that my intent is really good. You have to be able to put the bad balls away and pass the pressure on. We did that really well."

At 36, Miller is the oldest player in South Africa's squad. And the most experienced with 315 white-ball caps for South Africa. He was undoubtedly the man for Sunday's moment.

"In high-pressure moments in front of a big audience [of 81,429], it's about making sure that you stick to the basics and do them really well. My intent was to make sure I had limited movements, being nice and still when the ball was bowled, controlling my breathing, running hard - the simple things that people think of as cliches."

It's also a cliche to talk of revenge. Miller was part of South Africa's heart-stopping loss, by seven runs, in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados. There's a long way to go yet before the South Africans get another chance to claim the trophy. Their next two Super Eights fixtures are against the ever-dangerous West Indies and high-riding Zimbabwe - who could both beat them.

But, after Sunday, Miller and his teammates know they are probably one more win away from the semifinals. They needed to beat India to set up that scenario, and they did so more emphatically than even they might have imagined. That wasn't easy, even though Miller made it look like it was.