Pat Cummins hopes to return to the IPL in the latter half and playoffs of 2026 after missing the T20 World Cup due to a lumbar stress strain. Since beginning to have back problems in July of last year, the Australian captain has only played in one competitive game, the third Ashes Test.
Cummins was initially scheduled to take part in T 20 world cup, but he was forced to skip the start of the Sunrisers Hyderabad campaign citing a small setback in his recovery. Ishan Kishan will take on the duties of captain in his absence.
The right-arm bowler has been there, since then. He was seen on Wednesday running lightly in warm-ups on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and then bowling leisurely in the nets. Cummins admitted that he could only hope to be fit in time to go to the second half of the IPL and knockout stages in late May.
“I’m still recovering from a back injury, but it’s good. I’m back bowling in the nets. The IPL is starting soon. I won’t make the start of that, but it shouldn’t be too long before I’m back out there playing. I’m back bowling. I’m bowling basically every third day at the moment. We’ve mapped out a plan to get me right by [the] middle of the tournament, so hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, [I’ll] play the back half plus the finals,” said Cummins in the Business of Sport.
Cummins also urged Ishan Kishan to take over as captain in the early part of the season, citing his recent leadership role with Jharkhand, who he led to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy triumph in December. against March 28, Sunrisers Hyderabad, the 2016 IPL champions, will take against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to start their 2026 campaign.
“Ishan’s had a really successful captaincy stint with his local side in the last year or so. Those guys, you’re leaning on anyway. We’ve got quite an experienced bowling group of local guys, so a few of the younger guys that come through that I don’t know as well, particularly early on in a season, I’m definitely leaning on the local guys who do know them well – or even speak the language. Most of the guys speak really great English, but some of them don’t, and there are local dialects, so that can be a little bit of a barrier for an international captain,” said Cummins.
