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The Australian Test and ODI captain sustained an ankle injury during India’s tour down under, and the seamer stated that he has initiated the road to recovery.
Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins. (X)
Australian pacer Pat Cummins has returned to the training ground ahead of the Indian Premier League, after being ruled out of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The Australian Test and ODI captain sustained an ankle injury during India’s tour down under, and the seamer stated that he has initiated the road to recovery.
“The ankle is all going strong, [have been] able to give it a good rest and then been building up slowly, which you don’t get to do when you play lots of cricket,” Cummins said.
Cummins, who led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the final of the 2024 edition of the event will look to go one better this time around when the T20 franchise league pulls around this season.
“It’s feeling as strong as it has for a fair while. It should be fine for the IPL, that’s the plan. So have a few weeks of bowling, building back up and then hopefully don’t have to worry about it for a while.”
Cummins stated that the issue is something he has to tend to regularly and that the break has afforded him breathing space in dealing with the rigours of the international calendar.
“It’s something that we’ve opted never to have surgery on or intervene too much, just a lot to rehab,” he explained.
“Having this break meant that I could get a couple of cortisones and really rehab it well the last couple of weeks,” he added.
With the breakneck speed of the schedule, Cummins stated that players could end up playing a lot if they could manage their workload properly with the odd breaks between tours.
“Sometimes by missing the odd tour, you actually end up playing more cricket for the whole year,” he said.
“I think in the past you used to play everything, whereas now, absolutely, you try and make sure the players are at their peak for as long as you can for the year and to play as much of the important stuff each year. It’s just the way of the world. Everyone’s used to it.”
Australia miss the services of Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc at the ICC CT 2025 and the pace attack has been left by Nathan Ellis and Ben Dwarshuis. Cummins lauded the abilities of Ellis with the new ball and the old leather.
“[Nathan] has always been so valuable in that he can bowl at any stage,” Cummins said.
“He doesn’t necessarily need to take the new ball to have a big impact. He can bowl through the middle and at the end,” the Aussie seamer said.
Australia’s chase in their opener against England was led by Josh Ingles, who produced a match-winning ton with 120 runs off 86 deliveries. Cummins touched upon the attitude of the player who has been around the circuit for a while now.
“He’s been on almost every Australian tour for about the last four years running drinks. So we’ve always known his quality and scoring two hundreds in different formats in the last month is amazing,” Cummins said.
“He’s so dynamic. You can bat him anywhere in the order. He can take down spin. He can also finish off an innings with all his different shots. Just someone who’s coming into a real sweet spot in his career,” he added.
He was helped in his efforts by Alex Carey, who came up with 69 runs off his willow, has also been a crucial cog in the Aussie machine in recent times. The Australians also have the option of switching between the keepers across formats. Cummins feels they have a positive selection conundrum with Sam Konstas and Cameroon Green also in the mix alongside Ingles and Carey.
“I think you’re open to anything at the moment,” he said.
“[Inglis and Carey] are two of the most in-form guys. They’re straight into that ODI side together and it’s no issue. We’ve picked two all-rounders before. Picked two keepers in Sri Lanka. I don’t see any reason why they can’t coexist if they’re both scoring runs.”
Following the conclusion of the ICC CT 2025, the T20 World Cup slated to be held in India and Sri Lanka in 2026 is set to be the next big ticket event, with the ODI World Cup set to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in the year 2027, where Cummins will lead Australia’s title defence.
“It comes around pretty quick, we’re already almost halfway,” he said.
“That’s definitely what we’ve been speaking to. Obviously, when it’s a long way away, Test cricket and other tournaments take priority. But once it gets a bit closer, that becomes a bit more of a focus,” he added.
