Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins began his road to recovery and the Australian pace leader joined the team’s training session at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, March 25.
Cummins, who is nursing a back injury, kept his workload light during the session. The 32-year-old focused on the warm-up, took part in fielding and catching drills and bowled a few short-run deliveries to the empty wicket, signaling a gradual return to bowling rhythm.
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The Australia Test and ODI captain has been sidelined for most of last year with a lumbar spine injury sustained following the Caribbean tour last July. Since then, he has appeared in just one international – the Adelaide Test against England in December – and that too missed Australia’s stunning campaign at the ICC Men’s Under-20 World Cup.
With IPL 2026 around the corner, Cummins confirmed he will miss the opening phase of the tournament but is optimistic about a mid-season return.
“I’m still recovering from my back injury but it’s good. I’m back bowling in the nets,” Cummins said on the Business of Sport podcast.
“The IPL starts soon. I won’t be able to start but it shouldn’t be too long before I’m back playing.
I’m bowling basically every third day at the moment. We’ve planned a plan to get me right into the middle of the tournament so hopefully if nothing goes wrong I’ll be able to play the back half plus the final.”
In his absence, wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan was named as the stand-in captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad for the start of the season.
The return of Cummins will not only be crucial for SRH but also for Australia, who have a busy international calendar this year. The side is scheduled to host Bangladesh for a two-Test series in August before touring South Africa for a three-match Test series that also serves as part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle.
Australia will then play a white-ball series in South Africa before returning home for a four-Test series against New Zealand in the summer.
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Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
March 26, 2026 09:46 IST
