Pat Cummins on Wednesday addressed his availability for the upcoming 2026 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), revealing that he is targeting a return in the second half of the tournament as he continues to recover from a lumbar stress injury.
Cummins has played just one competitive match since July last year, the third Ashes Test in December, as he continues to manage the back issue. He was initially expected to feature in the T20 World Cup but was eventually ruled out due to what was described as a “minor setback”. The Australian skipper also made himself unavailable for the first half of the IPL season, with Sunrisers Hyderabad appointing Ishan Kishan as interim captain in his absence.
Cummins has since arrived in India and had a light training session at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, even bowling casually in the nets.
Speaking on the Business of Sport podcast, in an episode recorded late last week, Cummins said he is progressing well but remains cautious about his return timeline.
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“I’m still recovering from a back injury, but it’s good. I’m back bowling in the nets,” Cummins said. “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 back bowling. 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’ll] play the back half plus the finals.”
Cummins also backed Kishan’s appointment as stand-in skipper, pointing to his recent success in domestic cricket, where he led Jharkhand to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title.
“Ishan’s had a really successful captaincy stint with his local side in the last year or so,” Cummins said. “Those guys, you’re leaning on anyway. We’ve got quite an experienced bowling group of local guys, so a few of the younger guys that come through that I don’t know as well, particularly early on in a season, I’m definitely leaning on the local guys who do know them well – or even speak the language.
“Most of the guys speak really great English, but some of them don’t, and there are local dialects, so that can be a little bit of a barrier for an international captain.”
Sunrisers Hyderabad, who have not won the IPL since 2016, will open their 2026 campaign against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Bengaluru on Saturday.
