Last Updated on 36 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey
Pat Cummins has revealed why he will miss the upcoming T20 World Cup. The Test skipper managed to play just one out of the five Ashes Tests recently, contributing to Australia’s series-defining win at Adelaide, due to a back injury suffered during the tour of West Indies last year.
Pat Cummins aims to play every Test after ruled out of T20 World Cup
Cummins said that the recovery period between the Adelaide Test and T20 World Cup was too tight. With a massive schedule coming up, Cummins said management of the injury is crucial.
“It was really unfortunate,” Cummins told AAP, as quoted by cricket.com.au. “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. 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, because I was feeling really good, but just had a follow-up scan.
“They thought it probably needs another couple of weeks, so the timeline just became a bit too tight.”
Australia have a huge schedule starting in August. Pat Cummins’ team will play Bangladesh in two Top End Tests in August, before a highly-anticipated three-Test and three-ODI tour of South Africa.
The Australians then host New Zealand for four Tests before embarking on a five-match tour of India in January 2027. They will then aim to defend their World Cup title in South Africa.
Following that tournament, Australia play England in the 150th anniversary Test at the MCG in March. Later in the year, Australia will travel to England for the Ashes plus a possible World Test Championship Final.
“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 that will mean you won’t have to worry about it, and you can just go out and play all those Test matches.
‘Whereas, if you’re not careful with it now and it flares up, you’re chasing your tail a bit.”
Cummins also said his participation in the 2026 Indian Premier League will depend on upcoming scans. He is due to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad once again.
“We’ll just be guided by my back. We’ll have another scan in a few weeks, and if it’s good, then we’ll have a slow build-up,” he said.
“T20s are a little bit easier to get up for (than Tests), that’s why I was so close to getting up for this World Cup.”
