Pat Cummins confirms IPL 2026 participation timeline

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins has confirmed his participation timeline in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. Cummins said that he is “still recovering” from lumbar stress but has started bowling in the nets.

Cummins’ most recent competitive match was the third Ashes Test in Adelaide last December after he suffered a back injury in July during Australia’s tour to the Caribbean. While it was initially believed that he would be fit in time to play the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, the pacer’s recovery was pegged back by minor setbacks, delaying his return and eventually forcing him to miss the global event, which Australia exited in the group stage.

As it stands, Cummins will miss the initial rounds of IPL, with Ishan Kishan set to lead the team in the interim. Cummins remains optimistic of regaining full fitness for the second half of the tournament and the knockouts, should SRH reach that far.

"I'm still recovering from a back injury, but it's good. I'm back bowling in the nets," Cummins said on Business of Sport podcast late last week. "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.

"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."

SRH will commence their campaign against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Bengaluru in the tournament opener on March 28.

Needed a break to make myself mentally strong: Prithvi Shaw

Elsewhere, Prithvi Shaw, who is set to return for the Delhi Capitals after finding no takers in IPL 2025 auction, has said that the hiatus helped him regain mental clarity and focus. Shaw had modest returns in 2023 and 2024 for the Capitals, managing just 304 runs in 16 innings across two seasons.

He was dropped midway through the tournament in 2024 and subsequently lost his played in his domestic side Mumbai in 2024-25 season, prompting him to move to Maharashtra in the recent domestic season.

"I enjoyed my life a lot. I went to a couple of destinations to refresh my mind a little," Shaw told reporters. "Then I came back [and followed] the same routine: I practised, worked hard. Whether it was training or batting, what I used to do, I started doing three times. And I think it was a good break for me. I can't say that I took a step back. I needed that break to make myself mentally strong."

"I am a human being; I will make mistakes," Shaw said. "Obviously, whatever is written or spoken out there, they know only half of it. My family knows me… My friends know in and out about me. In social media or in the papers, whenever good or bad things used to come [about me], I was very young [to understand them], obviously. Every time you see [such stuff], you come [back for more]. So I stopped seeing them.

"Those things were used to keep me away from all these things [related to cricket]. I had belief in myself. Because I know where I have come from, how hard I have worked. Mistakes are made by humans… It's okay, move ahead. All that is history, and it happened many years ago... I feel [now] is the time when mentally I get a lot of happiness to come to the ground."

Delhi Capitals will kick off their campaign against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on April 1.