The draw leaves Scotland without a friendly win at Hampden since March 1996 but there were several positives for the new manager.
Miller was once again impressive in the lone striker role, while Alan Hutton was a stand-out at right-back and Gordon was assured on a horrible, wet night.
Paul Hartley also did well in a defensive midfield role to help break up some of the slick passing moves from Croatia.
Scotland were behind after 10 minutes when Kranjcar picked the ball up on the edge of the penalty and belted home a swerving shot which left Gordon utterly bewildered.
Croatia were enjoying long spells of possession, languidly stroking the ball around midfield only to suddenly spring quicksilver attacks that had the Scottish defence stretched.
However, the home team hung in doggedly and were on level terms after half an hour.
A Robert Kovac slip allowed Miller to latch on to Steven Fletcher's long ball and shoot home from a tight angle via a heavy deflection off Josip Simunic.
Kranjcar tried his luck with another strike but Gordon got down smartly to gather a skidding, long-range effort from the Portsmouth midfielder.
Burley was happy with the way his side fought back
Gordon again showed good handling skills to field a curling free kick from Darijo Srna.
Gavin Rae, a late call-up to Burley's depleted squad, replaced Steven Fletcher at the start of the second half and immediately caused a scare in front of his own goal, with the ball eventually ricocheting off the Cardiff midfielder and going wide.
Scott Brown shot wide from 20 yards after a neat change of direction and Miller had a header cleared away by a defender guarding the near post from a corner.
Scotland then survived a double scare thanks to the reactions of Gordon and Gary Caldwell.
A deflected long-range strike from Kranjcar was instinctively clawed away by the Sunderland keeper and the Celtic defender made an acrobatic challenge to prevent Ivica Olic from knocking in the loose ball from inside the six-yard box.
With both sides making changes in personnel, the game grew increasingly fragmented but the visitors continued to look the more dangerous side.
And Gordon had to make another fine save to get a hand to a drilled effort from Parma striker Igor Budan.
A powerful surge from Hutton set up his former Rangers team-mate Kris Boyd but the substitute's strike was palmed away by Pletikosa.
Scotland: Gordon, Hutton, Naysmith (McEveley 62), Caldwell (Anderson 70), McManus, Darren Fletcher (Alexander 90), Hartley, Brown (Teale 66), Maloney (Boyd 72), Miller, Steven Fletcher (Rae 46). Subs Not Used: Marshall, Berra, O'Connor.
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