Pat Cummins opened up on his back injury ruling him out of the 2026 T20 World Cup. He had sustained that injury during the side's tour of West Indies back in July, 2025 and has only featured in a single Test since then. The 32-year-old only played in one out of the five Ashes Tests so that he could regain full fitness in time for the T20 World Cup.
However, despite showing positive signs, Cummins was eventually ruled out of the tournament due to a "minor setback". He decided not to risk his long-term health and was replaced by left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis in Australia's squad for the competition.
"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. 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," Cummins told AAP.
"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," he added.
Australia's injury woes
Australia had multiple injury concerns heading into the T20 World Cup. With Cummins out, the likes of Tim David and Nathan Ellis were not included in the side's squad for the recently-concluded T20I series against Pakistan as they were recovering from their respective injuries. However, they have regained full fitness and will be available for the entirety of the side's campaign.
Hazlewood doubtful for T20 WC?
The same cannot be said for Josh Hazlewood as he still hasn't recovered from his achilles issue and is expected to miss the first phase of the tournament. With his participation being doubtful, Australia have decided to add Sean Abbott as a travelling reserve. It remains to be seen how the team will line-up for their tourtnament opener that will be against Ireland on February 11.
Australia's squad for T20 World Cup: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa