Pat Cummins has astonishingly flown back to Australia on 4th April for a scan on his back injury. The fast bowler was seen bowling in nets & working with the SRH coaching staff. Pat Cummins is the designated skipper for the SRH franchise, and Ishan Kishan has been the stand-in captain for the franchise. SRH so far have won 1 match out of 3 as it has been a topsy-turvy ride for the franchise after defeat against LSG in the latest fixture.
Will Pat Cummins play IPL 2026?
ESPNCricinfo has reported that the scan of Pat Cummins is a scheduled one by Cricket Australia (CA). Cummins can only & only play if he is cleared by CA, with the tentative date of 17th April if everything goes right for Australia’s captain. Pat Cummins hasn’t played a lot of competitive cricket; he just played 3rd Ashes Test match. missed out on the T20 WC 2026 due to an injured back.
CA’s authoritative control over Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins is a contracted player for Australia, who hasn’t received the NOC from CA yet. If Cummins had been a freelancer, then he would haven’t gone back to Australia and continued his rehabilitation fully with the franchise.
SRH’s head coach, Daniel Vettori, is Australia’s assistant coach as well, so we can say that CA would have got some insights from Vettori. It looks unlikely that even if Pat Cummins’ gets a green signal to play, he won’t get drafted in playing 11 immediately. If CA doesn’t give NOC, then it’s the end of the discussion regarding Cummins’ availability for IPL 2026 & the pacer might get some probable sanctions by IPL, and also no monetary benefits will be there.
We can say that CA is taking a very meticulous & cautious approach. The mighty Aussies are scheduled for a bumper Test season of a potential 21 Test matches till tentatively September 2027, which is the most in the Australian Test calendar. With Australia hitting rock bottom in ICC T20 WC 2026 & also no silverware since 2023 ODI WC (*4 ICC tournaments without any trophy), it seems that CA has taken stern decisions to be once again invincible.
Pat Cummins is a 32-year-old, we can say has 3-4 quality years left in him, or maybe only till the 2027 ODI WC. This is a clear case of workload management by Cummins & CA, where we can say they are prioritzing national cricket, SRH, though, is suffering because of it. With Mitchell Starc (*DC) is still not linked up with the franchise & Josh Hazlewood (*RCB) joined the squad but is not bowling yet. The trio, along with CA, may have taken a coordinated approach for their longevity which isn’t guaranteed but they are trying to protect the players as much as possible they can.
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