Nonagenarian former India skipper Vijay Hazare described great Australian all rounder Keith Miller, who passed away today at Melbourne, as "a great all rounder and a very good but unpredictable bowler."
"He was a great all rounder. He was a very good middle order batsman and a very good fast bowler, but was very unpredictable (as a bowler)," said Hazare.
"He used to take a long run up and bowl spinners, even googlies. But he could bowl very fast with a run-up of just two or three steps," India's all-time great batsman of the 1940s and 50s.
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Keith Miller dies at 84
Hazare earned the respect of Sir Donald Bradman's all-conquering team of the late 1940s with his fabulous feat of scoring centuries in each innings of the Adelaide Test in the inaugural series between the two countries Down Under in 1947-48.
India lost that Test by an innings and the five-match series 0-4 against the legendary Australian team whose three-pronged pace attack comprised Ray Lindwall, Miller and Bill Johnston.
Miller made 185 runs with two half tons averaging 37 per innings and claimed nine wickets at 24.78 apiece in the series against India. Though he never toured India for a Test series he was part of the Australian Services team, under Lindsay Hassett, that toured India soon after the World War Two.
"I had high respect and regard for Miller. His passing away is a great loss for the game," said the former India captain who played under late Lala Amarnath against Bradman's powerful outfit and amassed 429 runs in the rubber averaging a shade over 47 per innings.
