Frustrated David Miller Slams ICC, Backs New Zealand to Win Champions Trophy Final

South African player David Miller played a fantastic innings in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final but couldn’t take his team to win. Despite scoring a brilliant century, South Africa lost against New Zealand and was knocked out of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.  

Miller was frustrated with the ICC for the tight travel schedule. South Africa had to make a quick stop in Dubai before their semi-final in Lahore, which affected their preparation. After scoring an unbeaten 100 in South Africa’s 50-run loss while chasing 363, Miller openly criticized ICC for scheduling the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 final.

After New Zealand Confirmed their place in the final, David Miller and Kane Williamson shared a warm moment on the field. Williamson had just finished his media talk, while Miller was about to start. Even though it was another tough loss for South Africa in the semi-finals, Miller showed his sportsmanship by backing New Zealand to win the final against India.

"I’ll be honest with you. I think I’ll be supporting New Zealand. It’s only an hour-and-40-minute flight, but we had to do that after a game. We landed at 4 p.m., then had to fly back at 7:30 the next morning. It wasn’t ideal. It’s not like we had five hours to recover,” Miller told ESPNcricinfo.

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Even though he was frustrated, Miller said that New Zealand played better on the day. His century, which he dedicated to his newborn son, was a proud moment, but he would have gladly given it up for a South African win. New Zealand made the most of the good conditions after winning the toss and set a big target of 363 runs in the semi-finals. New Zealand will now face India in the Champions Trophy 2025 final at the Dubai International Stadium on March 9 Sunday.