Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins has admitted that he might have to skip next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) due to the demanding international schedule. He said, “Something has to give” if he wants to keep focusing on playing for his country.
Cummins is currently back in Australia after another IPL season with Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he faced 15-year-old star Vaibhav Suryavanshi. He plans to take some time off before Australia’s next Test series against Bangladesh in August.
The coming months will be extremely challenging for Australian cricket, with up to 21 Tests scheduled over the next 12 months, depending on whether they qualify for another World Test Championship final. The team will face South Africa, India, and England away from home, before concluding 2027 at the ODI World Cup in Africa. There is also a special one-off 150th anniversary Test between Australia and England at the MCG in March.
In the middle of this intense schedule lies the IPL, which will immediately precede the Ashes campaign in England in 2024. Australia is eager to win the Ashes for the first time since 2001.
Cummins suggested that a five-Test series in India in January and February could leave him needing a break before the Ashes. “Something has got to give at some stage next year, and it’s not going to be Test matches or an ODI World Cup,” Cummins, who is an Amazon Prime Video ambassador ahead of the women’s T20 World Cup, told this masthead.
“I will make a call closer to the time and work with the franchise to see what makes sense. Things can change. I’ve had a couple of injuries pop up, so I don’t really want to lock in anything. The priorities for me are always the Test matches and that ODI World Cup. I dare say if I play all of India, I need some sort of break before a pretty gruelling Ashes series.”
The workload for Australia’s top fast-bowling trio—Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood—will be carefully managed during this period. This may even lead to considering resting them during a four-Test home series against New Zealand in December and January.
“Yeah, it’s possible. I think we’re fairly open-minded to anything, as we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” Cummins said. “Whether it’s a home Test or an away Test, we don’t see them as that different. A Test match is a Test match. We’re pretty realistic that we’re going to need more than three fast bowlers.”
“I see a world where we’re potentially winding some bowlers down, even say at the back end of an Indian series if they don’t look like they’re going to play, to give them an extra rest ahead of the Ashes. I’ve played one [Test] in the last 12 months, so I’m feeling a lot fresher than maybe some of the other guys, but they are big series. It’s going to be a big push the next 18 months or so, but I think we’ll look back on it hopefully and see it as one of the more rewarding periods of our career.”
Meanwhile, Cummins praised Suryavanshi, who impressed everyone with his performance in the IPL. The young talent smashed 72 sixes during the tournament and was named player of the tournament despite turning 15 in March.
“I’d say [the mood in India] is still a little bit of disbelief. I think he’s got enough credits now that he’s not just a flash in the pan. He’s a real talent,” Cummins said. “He’s just a really good hitter of the ball. He’s clearing [the boundary] by 20 or 30 metres, so your margins for error become really small when someone is that strong and has got so many options. He’s really impressive.”
Cummins also expressed confidence in Australian women’s captain Sophie Molineux, who will lead the team in her first global tournament. Australia starts its T20 World Cup campaign against South Africa at Old Trafford on June 13. The team will face Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Pakistan, and India in the group stages.
“They’re always very good when they go into a tournament,” Cummins said of an Australian side that has won three of the past four tournaments. “They’ve got a couple of young guns who are starting to hit their stride, and it’s obviously Soph’s first tournament in charge, so all the signs are looking pretty good.”
“I don’t know Soph very well, but everyone that speaks of her says they love playing alongside her. If you’ve got the backing of the players, most of the other things sort themselves out. She’ll be fantastic. She’s obviously a really popular captain, so she’ll do great.”
