Pat Cummins Eyes Strong IPL Comeback, Targets Crucial Second Half and Finals

Pat Cummins is looking forward to playing in the second half of the IPL 2026, provided he fully recovers his fitness in the given time. It is one of those issues that kept him away from the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, as the Australian team medical panel advised him to take complete rest.

Cummins arrived in India on Wednesday and is currently doing light warm-ups to keep himself ready. He is still recovering from a back injury, so the best-case scenario for him to feature in the tournament could be in the second half or the knockout phase.

"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.” said Pat Cummins.

"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, so hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, [I'll] play the back half plus the finals." added Pat Cummins.

Cummins is also backing Ishan Kishan to take the captaincy duties in his absence, saying he had a wonderful stint with his local side last season which must have given him plenty of confidence.

"Ishan's had a really successful captaincy stint with his local side in the last year or so. Those guys, you're leaning on anyway. We've got quite an experienced bowling group of local guys, so a few of the younger guys that come through that I don't know as well, particularly early on in a season, I'm definitely leaning on the local guys who do know them well, or even speak the language.” said Pat Cummins.

"Most of the guys speak really great English, but some of them don't, and there are local dialects, so that can be a little bit of a barrier for an international captain." added Pat Cummins.