Turning adversity into advantage

From rags to riches

 The best twist in Tymal Mill’s intriguing tale was perhaps when he was picked by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for a whopping amount of Rs 12 crore for the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League.

Mills, a left-arm pacer from England, has garnered immense attention following the astonishing deal and a lot will be expected of him when he makes his debut appearance in IPL.  Life, however, hadn’t always been this enchanting as it is right now for Mills.

For a child who loved playing different sports, the poor financial situation in his family came as a big challenge. Living in small house with his mother in Brandon city, Mills ventured out for small part-time jobs as a child.

“I played a lot of sports growing up. I was playing football, basketball and cricket. The only time I was free was early in the morning. Luckily a family friend had a vegetable store and I would go in the morning to help him set that up and head to school. Twice a week I would go to the store around 4:00 am and other days it would be 6:00 am. It was fine in the summer but winter it was horrible,” recollected Mills, during RCB’s training on Friday.  

For somebody who juggled work with education to meet the financial needs, the IPL deal was unbelievable. The 24-year-old though is excited to buy a mortgage-free house for his mother. “Of course I am excited to buy a new house but it will take time as I haven’t got the money yet,” said Mills laughing.

Having made his first-class debut for Essex in 2011, Mills’ career faced a huge hurdle when he was diagnosed with a back injury. The extent of the injury almost forced Mills think of quitting, all at the age of 22. Fortunately though, the situation turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him.

“It was a two-day period. I had all my tests done and sat down in the board room with doctors and the chief executives at Sussex and I was offered retirement. I had medical grounds to retire because of my back problem. To hear those words at the age of 22 wasn’t nice. They gave me time to  think . The T20 option was something they recommended because I had that option. The back injury and other problems I had only occurred when I bowled 14-15 overs in a day. So they suggested to bowl less. Since that point, all I have thought about is T20 cricket. Every training session I do is with the white ball. I haven’t even thought about red ball cricket in two years,” he said. 

Mills isn’t complaining that his career is restricted to just T2O cricket.
“This winter I have played in four different leagues and this will be my fifth. Just away from cricket you meet some really cool people and not just the guys you play with. I think we forget sometimes, how lucky we are. Even the smaller things like being flown in business class flights across the world. So we are very lucky to do what we do,” he offered.

Bought into the side after the withdrawal of Mitchell Starc, Mills is eager to soak in the pressure and win games for RCB. “I won’t change whatever I have done to be successful. I will be aggressive with the new ball and I will try and be smart with my changes as the innings progresses. I am looking forward to contributing and winning games for RCB,” he said.