Cummins, who is SRH’s captain, was with the team for the start of the tournament before returning to Australia earlier this month for scheduled follow-up scans which have shown the stress injury that has restricted him to one match since last July has now healed.
In a reply to an Instagram post of a family holiday in the Blue Mountains, Cummins responded he was due to fly back to India on Friday and was aiming to play on April 25 against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur.
There had been some hope that he would recover in time for the T20 World Cup, and was named in the initial squad, but that tournament came too soon, as did the start of the IPL.
In Cummins’ absence, Ishan Kishan has been leading SRH. “We’re fortunate enough that Pat has been around the group and he’s been able to have conversations with Ishan about his captaincy style,” head coach Daniel Vettori said earlier in the tournament.
Cummins has a huge workload on the horizon with Australia to play at least 20 Tests from August to next July with series against Bangladesh, South Africa, New Zealand, India and England plus the 150th anniversary fixture at the MCG. There could also be the World Test Championship final in June if Australia qualify.
