Brandon cricket star Tymal Mills was at the centre of a bidding war at this morning's Indian Premier League (IPL) auction before eventually being signed for a huge £1.4million.

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Ben Stokes was the only English player to be signed for more during the auction, with the all-rounder set to earn £1.7m playing for Rising Pune Supergiants.

Mills however saw his earnings reach an unexpected high of £1.4m as Royal Challengers Bangalore pushed hard for his signing, as Australia international Mitchell Starc – also a left-arm fast bowler – has decided not to play in the IPL this year.

They faced competition from Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders for the 24-year-old's signature though, who has been capped four times by England in Twenty20 internationals in the past year, pushing up his value.

The former Breckland Middle School pupil, who played for Mildenhall CC and Tuddenham CC as a youngster, is an unusual case in that he can only play the short forms of the game, so will be available for the whole competition and not called away for international Test matches.

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A congenital back problem causing the narrowing of his spinal column mean he has focussed on T20 cricket in the last year, playing in competitions in Bangladesh, Australia and New Zealand this winter.

Mills is currently playing for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League but used his @tmills15 Twitter account to say: 'Seriously crazy morning! Thank you for all the messages, can't wait to join up with everyone at @RCBTweets.'

The former Mildenhall College pupil, who plays domestically for Sussex, will team up with India captain Virat Kohli in Bangalore for the high-profile tournament, which attracts many of the world's best players, between April 5 and May 21.

https://twitter.com/SkyCricket/status/833654984356945920

THE IPL AUCTION

The annual Vivo Indian Premier League auction, being held in Bangalore today, sees the league's eight franchises finalise their squads to challenge current champions Sunrisers Hyderabad this season.

A total of 359 players including 130 overseas players go under the hammer, comprising 62 batsmen, 117 bowlers, 150 all-rounders and 30 wicket-keepers.

Seven marquee players – Ben Stokes, Eoin Morgan, Angelo Mathews, Patrick Cummins, Mitchell Johnson, Ishant Sharma and Chris Woakes – had the highest reserve price of two crore (10 million rupees, around £120,000).