Pat Cummins, the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, has started his journey to rehabilitation. On Wednesday, the Australian pace spearhead joined the team’s training session at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Throughout the workout, Cummins, who is recovering from a back issue, kept his workload moderate. In order to gradually regain his bowling rhythm, the 32-year-old concentrated on warm-up exercises, took part in fielding and catching drills, and bowled a few deliveries with a shortened run-up in an empty net.
Due to a lumbar stress injury he suffered following the Caribbean tour in July of last year, the Australia Test and ODI skipper has been out of action for the majority of the past year. Since then, he has only played in one international game, the Test against England in Adelaide in December. He also missed Australia’s lacklustre ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign.
Cummins has stated that he would miss the initial part of the IPL 2026, but he is hopeful about making a comeback in the middle of the season.
“I’m still recovering from a back injury, but it’s good. I’m back bowling in the nets,” Cummins said on the Business of Sport podcast.
“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 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 can play the back half plus the finals.”
Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has been named Sunrisers Hyderabad’s interim captain for the initial part of the season.
Both SRH and Australia, who have a busy international schedule later this year, would benefit greatly from Cummins’ comeback. In August, the team will play a two-Test series against Bangladesh before traveling to South Africa for a three-match Test series as part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle.
After that, Australia will go to South Africa for a white-ball series before coming home for the summer’s major four-Test series against New Zealand.
