Pat Cummins is aiming to make his return from an ankle injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) and is confident of being fit to reclaim the captaincy for Australia’s World Test Championship final.
The fast bowler played through pain in the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy match against India in Sydney after a long-standing issue with his left ankle flared up, following Australia’s dramatic final-day victory at the MCG.
The injury ruled him out of the two-Test tour of Sri Lanka — a series he was likely to miss anyway due to personal reasons, as his wife Becky gave birth to their second child, a daughter named Edi, during the first Test in Galle. He also sat out the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
“It’s been an amazing month or so just having full focus on family time and not having to do too much training or have my eye on a tour. Just being totally present has been really special,” Cummins told cricket.com.au.
“It was weird watching the Sri Lanka Test series. I haven’t seen the boys play on TV really for years. They were fantastic, the boys were basically faultless. I could follow along and just enjoy it really.”
The 31-year-old has resumed running and hopes to be fit in time to fulfil his Rs 18 crore contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad, last season’s runner-up, which begins its 2025 IPL campaign in a month’s time.
Cummins believes the high-intensity nature of cricket’s most lucrative tournament will provide ideal preparation for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s on June 11, followed by the three-Test tour of the Caribbean in July.
“That’s the aim,” he said. “It’s four overs in T20s. So physically it’s quite a nice build up for the World Test Championship final, and then the Test matches after that.
“That’s the aim at this stage – start bowling over the next week or so, building up, and should be right for IPL.
“It’s probably just making sure you’re still bowling quite a few balls (during the IPL). The good thing about a T20 tournament is the intensity is really high, so that obviously helps quite a bit.”
