Why Pat Cummins skipped T20 World Cup and what it means for his IPL return

Australia pace spearhead Pat Cummins has said his injury-forced withdrawal from the T20 World Cup was also driven by a desire to be fully fit for a demanding upcoming Test season, in which he hopes to play every match.

Cummins, Australia’s Test and ODI captain, was ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover in time from a back injury and was replaced by Ben Dwarshuis. The 32-year-old has been managing the issue since Australia’s tour of West Indies last July.

“It was really unfortunate. I feel pretty good, just a minor setback and just ran out of time really. I’ll rest up for a few weeks and go from there,” Cummins told Australian Associated Press.

He revealed that while initial assessments suggested a shorter recovery window, a follow-up scan altered the timeline. “We knew after the (Adelaide) Test match we were going to need somewhere between four and eight weeks to let the bone settle right down before then building back up. Initially, we thought it might only be four weeks… but they thought it probably needs another couple of weeks, so the timeline just became a bit too tight.”

Australia face a packed Test schedule beginning in August with two home Tests against Bangladesh, followed by tours of South Africa and India, a home series against New Zealand, the 150th anniversary pink-ball Test against England at the MCG, an away Ashes series, the ODI World Cup, and a possible World Test Championship final at Lord’s.

“We thought the first half of the year was a pretty good time to be conservative with the amount of cricket that’s coming up,” Cummins said. “We’ll get it right, then hopefully… you can just go out and play all those Test matches.”

Cummins is hopeful of returning in time to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL from March 26. “We’ll just be guided by my back… and if it’s good, then we’ll have a slow build-up.”

Despite Australia’s 0–3 whitewash in Pakistan, Cummins remained upbeat about the World Cup squad. “Morale is good… they know how big it is, they’re desperate to get started and get into it.”

Published on Feb 03, 2026