Australia's head coach, Andrew McDonald, remains hopeful about Pat Cummins' participation in the 2026 T20 World Cup after the veteran fast bowler's successful comeback to competitive cricket during the third Ashes Test at the Adelaide Oval last week. However, McDonald revealed that Cummins' fitness will be monitored over the next few days, and a call regarding his participation in the marquee event will be taken.
Cummins missed the first two Tests in the ongoing Ashes series as he was recovering from
a stress-related injury to his back. However, in the third Test, he showed no signs of rustiness, as he bagged six wickets across the two innings on his comeback and led his team to an 82-run victory, which helped the hosts take an unassailable 3-0 lead.
"Looking forward to the World Cup, whether he will be there or not, I can't really say. It's quite grey at the moment. We're hopeful," McDonald was quoted as saying by India Today.
Now that Australia has won the series, the team management has decided to rest Cummins for the remaining two games. Steve Smith will once again take charge of the team. McDonald said that it was already decided long beforehand that Cummins would be rested once the team retained the Ashes.
"He's pulled up fine. He won't play any part in the rest of the series and that was a discussion we had a long time out around his return," he said.
"We were taking on some risk, and people who understand that rebuild would know the risk involved. We've now won the series and that was the goal. So, to put him at further risk and jeopardise him long-term is not something we want to do, and Pat's really comfortable with that," McDonald explained.
Everything went smoothly, and full credit goes to him and the medical team: McDonald
McDonald gave credit to Cummins and the medical team for the legendary pacer's stellar comeback at the Adelaide Oval.
"If he'd had any setback in the build, we would have shut him down straight away. Everything went smoothly, and full credit goes to him and the medical team," he said.
Australia are expected to announce their T20 World Cup squad soon. McDonald believes that further scans will determine whether Cummins will board the flight to the subcontinent early next year.
"There'll be another assessment. I'm assuming he'll have a scan at some point and we'll gather more information about where his back is at heading into the World Cup. Whether he'll be there or not, I can't really say," the former Australian all-rounder stated.
