Injury hits Mumbai Indian Camp

Kyle Mills is of course easily the best bowler among the seam bowling options for the Mumbai Indians IPL team- Dominic Thornely and Dhaval Kulkarni are more bits and pieces kind of players. In recent series , especially the New Zealand vs South Africa one day cricket series,Kyle Mills demonstrated his seam bowling skills,albeit in a losing cause, to be named the man of the series.

but the Bad news for Mumbai Indians and their Supporters is:
There will be no Indian Premier League cricket for Kyle Mills this year but he continues to make steady progress towards his goal of playing for the Black Caps at the next Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean, starting late April.

Mills is rehabilitating after having surgery on his shoulder and knee a week apart in late November. He expects to be playing Auckland club cricket again by the end of March.

"The knee's fine," says Mills. "I'm back cycling to try to strengthen it but my shoulder is taking a wee bit more time to heal. That's to be expected, though. The first eight weeks, I've had to take it easier on my shoulder but there's more movement in it now. In the third week of January, I'm going to look at doing some specific strength work.

"The expectation is that full movement will return. The shoulder's the major operation but I thought I should do the knee as well while I can. The biggest issue early on will be fielding, in case I fall on it awkwardly."

While he won't be able to revisit his US$150,000 contract with the Mumbai Indians in 2010, Mills is hopeful it might open an avenue with the John Bracewell-coached Gloucestershire.

Mills was sought by the English county last season and was destined to play on a three-month contract as their overseas player. But that deal was conditional on him not being selected in the IPL.

"I haven't had any official talks as yet this time around," says Mills. "But if asked, I'd happily go across to play because I'll be refreshed and looking for whatever cricket I can once I'm fit."

In the meantime, Mills will have new-father duties to attend to, with wife Diana due to give birth in the next week or so. He will juggle that with his debut behind the microphone in the Sky commentary box as part of the team producing coverage of the domestic HRV Twenty20 Cup this month.

"I'm keen to get out of my comfort zone. I might not be any good but I'll try it, I might enjoy it [commentating]. If I'm rubbish, I expect to be axed.