IPL 2026: Ravichandran Ashwin slams David Miller over Delhi Capitals loss to Gujarat Titans

New Delhi: Former Team India star Ravichandran Ashwin has blamed David Miller for the one-run loss which Delhi Capitals suffered off the last ball against the Gujarat Titans. According to Ashwin, David Miller was the sole reason for the debacle. The former star off-spinner felt that Delhi could have taken the IPL 2026 encounter into the Super Over, but were let down by the Australian batter.

What did Ravichandran Ashwin say? 

Speaking on his YouTube channel, 'Ash Ki Baat', R. Ashwin said, "If I were Kuldeep at the other end, I would have simply run and physically shoved him (David Miller) across to the other end. I just cannot comprehend it; it is completely going over my head. While it makes sense not to take a single if you need four or six runs to win, in this instance, you only needed two runs. You could have easily taken a single—at the very least, the ball would have made contact with Kuldeep's bat; and even if it didn't, you could still have run. Even if Kuldeep had been bowled out, you would have still managed to force a Super Over in a high-scoring game where 210 runs were on the board. You had done well up to that point. David Miller's refusal to take that single was the exact moment the momentum shifted against us."

What happened during the match?

The full context of the situation is that, after 19.4 overs, the Delhi Capitals' score stood at 209/7 in pursuit of a target of 211 runs. With just two balls remaining, DC required two runs to win the match and one run to tie it. David Miller was on strike, facing Prasidh Krishna. Prasidh Krishna delivered a ball onto Miller's pads; the ball took an edge off the bat and rolled towards square leg. It was a situation where a single run could have been taken with absolute ease, yet Miller chose not to run. On the final delivery, Prasidh Krishna bowled a bouncer which Miller missed entirely; subsequently, while attempting to steal a run via byes, Kuldeep was run out. Consequently, Delhi suffered a one-run defeat.

Why did the Delhi Capitals falter?

Ashwin argues that David Miller had already emerged as the hero of the match and could have leveled the score on the fifth ball itself by taking a single—since a win did not require hitting a four or a six on the final delivery, something Kuldeep Yadav was unlikely to be capable of doing. At the very least, by tying the score, they could have then run a single via a 'bye'. This is precisely where Miller erred, and the match slipped out of Delhi's grasp.