Australia captain Pat Cummins is in doubt for the Champions Trophy due to an ankle injury that he has been managing during the five-match Test series against India. He is set to undergo scans on his ankle in the next few days which will decide his participation in the showpiece event in Pakistan. It was confirmed earlier on Thursday (January 9) that Cummins will miss the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka for the birth of his second child.
"We'll have to wait and see when that scan comes back and see how it's tracking. There's a little bit of work to do. We'll probably get a bit more information around where that's at," Australia's chair of selectors George Bailey. Cummins bowled 167 overs in five Test matches against India, the most for his team, and picked up 25 wickets.
Australia's opening game in the Champions Trophy is against arch-rivals England on February 22 and clearly, their captain is in race against time to get fit in time for the tournament. Moreover, Australia are also scheduled to play a one-off ODI in Sri Lanka on February 13 as part of their preparation for the mega event.
Pat Cummins led Australia to the much famous World Cup title in November 2023 beating India in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Australia. However, since then, he has played only two matches in the format due to workload management. In another update, Josh Hazlewood is expected to be completely recover from his calf injury, sustained during the India series, in time for the Champions Trophy. He has also not been picked for Sri Lanka tour with focus on the 50-over ICC event.
"Josh is working really hard and all the news of how he's responding to his recovery from the calf injury is coming along really well. It's just probably a little bit tight, given the amount of time that he would have missed and also with how we may structure up and the loads those quicks may be put under," Bailey added.
