Australia’s star bowler Pat Cummins has opened up about his absence from the upcoming T20 World Cup, revealing that a 'minor setback' forced him to withdraw from the tournament. Australia are hoping to move on from a disappointing tour of Pakistan and regain momentum on the global stage.
Meanwhile, Cummins has endured a frustrating run with injury over the past few months. Due to injury, his availability has been limited, most notably during the Ashes series, where he managed to feature in just one of the five matches. He played the third Test in Adelaide that Australia had won by 82 runs.
Despite those issues, Cummins had been named in Australia’s provisional 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup. However, his hopes of participating in the tournament were dashed on Saturday when he was ruled out, with team management opting not to risk him. In Australia's T20 World Cup, Pat Cummins has been replaced by left-arm fast bowler Ben Dwarshuis.
"It was really unfortunate. 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 told AAP.
"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."
Cummins, however, is hopeful of being fit for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL). Moreover, Australia have a bustling schedule involving two Test matches at home against Bangladesh and touring South Africa in September for the first time since 2018.
"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. 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 tail a bit," Cummins stated.