South African batsman Tristan Stubbs has expressed his admiration for senior Proteas player David Miller, stating that he enjoys batting alongside the veteran southpaw and has shaped his game on how Miller finishes matches for the team.

Miller delivered a fiery 63 runs while Stubbs contributed an unbeaten 44 from 24 balls, guiding South Africa to 187 for 7 against India in Ahmedabad. Their efforts helped secure a match-winning total for the 2024 T20 World Cup runners-up. India suffered a 76-run defeat, marking their heaviest loss in T20 World Cup history.
During the Proteas’ innings, Miller and Stubbs combined for a 35-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
Miller, who debuted in 2010 at the age of 20, was once one of the youngest members of the Proteas squad. Known for his free-spirited nature, he enjoys surfing and playing golf, traits that Stubbs, 25, now shares as he takes on the finisher role in high-pressure situations for the national team.

Rather than viewing Stubbs as a rival, Miller embraced him and took him under his wing following his arrival in the Proteas squad in 2022. This mentorship was meaningful for Stubbs, who spent his junior years imitating Miller’s style at Grey High School in Gqeberha.
“I love batting with Dave [Miller]. I pretty much watched him my whole junior years and tried to mould my game around Dave and the way he plays the backend,” Stubbs said, as quoted by a SA20 press release.

Although both players have matured—Miller is now married with a son named Ben, and Stubbs has become captain of Sunrisers Eastern Cape—their bond remains strong. This was evident during a double Super Over match against Afghanistan when Stubbs hit a six off the final ball to tie the game, then followed it with another six to start the second Super Over. Miller then secured victory with two additional sixes.
This intense display contrasted with their more measured 35-run stand off 21 balls against India in the first Super Eights match.

Stubbs took a cautious approach after teammate Dewald Brevis was dismissed, opting to rebuild the innings with Miller before launching an assault. After Miller was dismissed for 63 off 35 balls in the 16th over, Stubbs accelerated to finish unbeaten on 44.
“You cannot just try and go too early, then you all blow out. It is about managing the situation,” Stubbs said. “We still had a lot of time. Five overs in a T20 game are a lot of balls and can make a big difference. We (Stubbs and Miller) think so much alike about the game, about our sort of role, it’s pretty much similar. I have chewed his ear off over the years, and I love the way he goes about it. We speak a lot about batsmanship, which sometimes can get lost, because everyone wants you to sort of hit from ball one, and you sort of can lose the value of your wicket, whereas Dave, we think alike, so it has been awesome over the years to learn from that.”