Sydney, Feb 2 (.) Australia’s pace spearhead Pat Cummins has revealed just how close he came to being part of the national side’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup campaign, as the fast bowler continues his recovery from a back injury with an eye on a demanding Test schedule later in the year.
Cummins was omitted from Australia’s final 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup, which begins on February 7, after a lingering back complaint failed to settle in time, according to the International Cricket Council (ICC) website.
Speaking to the Australian Associated Press, the 31-year-old said a minor setback during his rehabilitation ultimately ruled him out of the tournament.
“It was really unfortunate,” Cummins said. “I feel pretty good, just a minor setback and just ran out of time, really. I’ll rest up for a few weeks and go from there.”
Cummins explained that following the Adelaide Test, the medical team had estimated a recovery window of four to eight weeks to allow the affected bone to fully settle before building back up. While early signs were encouraging, a follow-up scan suggested he needed additional rest.
“Initially, we thought it might only be four weeks, because I was feeling really good, but I just had a follow-up scan. They thought it probably needed another couple of weeks, so the timeline just became a bit too tight,” he said.
The Australian captain remains hopeful of returning to action in time for the Indian Premier League, which begins in late March, where he is slated to represent Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, Cummins stressed that his priority is being fully fit for a packed ICC World Test Championship schedule in the latter half of the year.
Australia is set to play a two-Test home series against Bangladesh, followed by a three-Test tour of South Africa before October. That will be followed by four Tests against New Zealand and a five-Test series against India, all before the current WTC cycle concludes.
“We thought the first half of the year was a pretty good time to be conservative with the amount of cricket that’s coming up,” Cummins said. “We’ll get it right, then hopefully that will mean you won’t have to worry about it, and you can just go out and play all those Test matches.”
“Whereas, if you’re not careful with it now and it flares up, you’re chasing your tail a bit,” he added.
Despite Australia entering the T20 World Cup on the back of a recent T20I series loss to Pakistan and dealing with injury concerns to several key players, Cummins believes the side remains well placed to challenge for the title.
Australia will face Ireland, Zimbabwe, Oman, and co-hosts Sri Lanka in their Group B fixtures.
“It wasn’t our greatest few games (in Pakistan), but the guys are coming off a strong Big Bash, and a couple of guys are coming back from injury for the World Cup,” Cummins said. “Morale is good. Chatting to a few of the boys from afar, they know how big it is, they’re desperate to get started and get into it.”
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