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After being sidelined from Australia's T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins has cast doubt on his participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, admitting it depends on his recovery from a back injury.
While Cummins remains hopeful of leading the Orange Army in IPL 2026, which begins on March 26, he is not willing to rush his return.
"We'll just be guided by my back," he told AAP. "We'll have another scan in a few weeks, and if it's good, then we'll have a slow build-up. T20s are a little bit easier to get up for, that's why I was so close to getting up for this World Cup."
The Australia skipper missed out on the T20 World Cup squad after suffering what he described as a "minor setback".
Cummins, who has been troubled by a back injury for the last seven months, was expected to be fit for the marquee event in Sri Lanka and India, but will not travel with the squad. His only competitive match during the troubled period was one Test of a five-match Ashes rubber at home.
"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."
"We knew after the (Adelaide) Test match we were going to need somewhere between four and eight weeks to let the bone settle right down before then building back up. Initially, we thought it might only be four weeks, because I was feeling really good, but just had a follow-up scan. They thought it probably needs another couple of weeks, so the timeline just became a bit too tight."
The decision not to rush Cummins' return is mainly due to Australia's packed schedule over the next 18 months.
During this period, Australia will play home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand and will tour South Africa, India, and England. Besides the bilateral engagements, Australia will also
