Pat Cummins (Getty Images) NEW DELHI: Australia’s leading paceman Pat Cummins revealed his injury-forced withdrawal from the upcoming T20 World Cup was as much about long-term planning as his immediate fitness, with the fast bowler favoring a demanding Test calendar over a rushed return to the shortest format.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Australia’s Test and ODI captain Cummins was ruled out of the T20 World Cup after failing to recover from a back injury in time and was replaced in the squad by Ben Dwarshuis. The 32-year-old has been dealing with the problem since Australia’s tour of the West Indies last July and said a follow-up scan finally forced his hand.
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“It was really unfortunate. I feel pretty good, just a bit of a setback and I’m really running out of time,” Cummins said, according to the Australian Associated Press. “I’ll rest for a few weeks and get out of here.”Cummins explained that early estimates suggested he could be fit within four weeks of the Adelaide Test, but the medical board later suggested a longer recovery period was needed. “We knew after the Test match we would need somewhere between four and eight weeks to let the bone settle,” he said. “They thought it probably needed another couple of weeks, so the timeline became a little too tight.With Australia facing a busy Test schedule – including home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand, a tour of South Africa, five Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests in India, the Ashes and a potential World Test Championship final – Cummins said caution was necessary. “We thought the first half of the year was a pretty good time to be conservative with the amount of cricket coming up,” he said. “Get it now and hopefully you can go out and play all those Test matches.”Cummins remains hopeful of returning in time to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL from March 26, adding that his return will be guided by further scans. Despite Australia going 0-3 in Pakistan, he backed the team to the World Cup. “Morale is good … they know how big it is and they’re desperate to get into it,” he said.
