Big blow to SRH, Pat Cummins heads back home due to this reason, set to miss at least 3 games

Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) unfit captain Pat Cummins has returned home to Australia for a final scan on his injured back. Cummins who was building his workload, left India after SRH's win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on April 2.

As per a report by ESPNCricinfo, the scan was a pre-scheduled one. Cricket Australia (CA) will take the final call whether Cummins will rejoin the squad or gets ruled out of the IPL 2026. If all goes well, Cummins can rejoin the squad on April 17.

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Even if Cummins rejoins the squad as scheduled, he will miss three clashes -- Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on April 5, Punjab Kings (PBKS) on April 11, and Rajasthan Royals (RR) on April 13. SRH are scheduled to take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on April 18.

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Earlier, Cummins had said that he should be fit to play the second half of the IPL if all goes well.

"I'm still recovering from a back injury, but it's good. I'm back bowling in the nets. 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,” Cummins had said on Business of Sports podcast before joining the SRH camp last month.

"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."

SRH win one, lose one

In Cummins' absence, Ishan Kishan has been leading SRH with Abhishek Sharma as his deputy. In the IPL 2026 opener, RCB beat them by six wickets, chasing down 202 in the 16th over. Against KKR, SRH won by 65 runs.

SRH’s overseas fast bowling lineup

SRH’s overseas bowling stocks are already depleted. Brydon Carse is injured and still recovering from taking a hit in the nets. In the previous game, impact player Malinga struck twice whereas replacement player David Payne is yet to get into the groove.