Kyle Mills

Born on March 15, 1979 in Auckland, injuries have robbed Kyle Mills of making a significant progress in the longer format of the game. With 240 wickets to his name, Mills though, has been a consistent performer for New Zealand in ODI cricket. Mills has also played useful knocks down the order for his country.

Mills, made his ODI debut against Pakistan in Sharjah in 2001. Mills created an impact in his second match itself against Sri Lanka, picking up 3/30 and sharing the Man of the Match award with Matthew Sinclair. He continued to be a consistent performer, but managed just one appearance in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. An injury at the most unfortunate moment saw Mills miss out on the 2007 World Cup when he was at his peak. He made a fine comeback later on during that year against South Africa, taking a career best 5/25 in Durban.

In Tests, however, Mills, has a modest record. He has played a total of 19 Test matches for a return of just 44 wickets. Persistent injuries forced him to quit the longer format of the game after the 2009 home series against India. His 4 for 16 against England in Hamilton in 2008 turned out to be his best figures in Tests.

Mills was signed up by Punjab in the 2008 IPL auction and was later bought by the Mumbai in the 2009 auction. In 2009, he led New Zealand's bowling attack in the Chappell-Hadlee Series against Australia, picking up nine wickets at 20.33 and attained the No 1 spot in the ICC ODI Rankings. Later in November that year, he was again forced out of the team because of injuries. Injuries continued to act as a hurdle for the pacer and he was ruled out of the knock-out stages of the 2011 World Cup, following a quadriceps strain.

After remaining in the Mumbai squad for two seasons, Mills was not retained during the fourth edition of the IPL, eventually remaining unsold. His T20 aspirations did not suffer as he was signed by Middlesex as a second overseas registration for the 2013 T20 Cup. After New Zealand suffered a humiliating whitewash against Bangladesh, he was named the ODI captain in the limited overs series against Sri Lanka in November 2013 due to Brendon McCullum's unavailability. Despite not having a great time in the games that followed, Mills was included in the 15-member squad for the 2014 World T20. He had a forgettable tournament as he took only four wickets and eventually, New Zealand couldn't qualify for the semi-finals.

He played the first ODI against Pakistan in UAE in December 2014, but was forced to leave the tour because of a groin strain. The injury kept him out of action for a while, but he recovered in time to be picked for the 2015 World Cup.

By Cricbuzz staff