Canberra: Australia captain Pat Cummins's availability is now in doubt for the upcoming Champions Trophy after it was revealed that he had been dealing with an ankle problem during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India, reported ESPNCricinfo.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that Cummins would miss the two-match Test tour of Sri Lanka. He will undergo scans in the coming days, which will determine his availability in the Champions Trophy, set to be hosted next month across Pakistan and the UAE.
"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, said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
Cummins took the brunt on his shoulders of spearheading Australia's attack with the ball. He bowled 167 overs during the five Tests and scythed 25 wickets at an average of 21.36, the most by any Australian bowler.
Since leading Australia to the ODI World Cup glory in 2023, Cummins has featured in only two ODIs. He captained Australia against Pakistan in the first two games on his home turf before BGT.
With Cummins being absent from the ODI fold, Australia haven't hesitated to exercise the option of using stand-in skippers to fill the void. Steven Smith led Australia last season against the West Indies.
During Australia's UK tour, Mitchell Marsh took up the leadership role against England. Notably, in the final ODI against Pakistan, Josh Inglis led Australia, with the rest of the stars taking a rest before the gruelling five Tests challenge against India.
Cummins is not the only injury concern for Australia in their star-studded pace bowling department. Josh Hazlewood sustained a calf injury in Brisbane, which kept him on the sidelines for the final two Tests of the series.
Even in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Hazlewood was kept out of action due to injury concerns. Bailey is optimistic about Hazlewood's return in the upcoming fixtures and revealed that his recovery is coming along very well.
"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 said. (ANI)