IPL 2026: Pat Cummins opens up on his IPL return. Here’s injury update

Just before 2 days of the commencement of the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Pat Cummins joined his squad. However, he will not participate in the first couple of matches due to his injury. But he stated that he is targeting a return for the latter half and playoffs of IPL 2026 as he continues his recovery from a lumbar stress injury.

Due to his injury, he also missed the recently held T20 World Cup 2026. Now, Ishan Kishan has been appointed the captain of SRH in his absence. At the same time, Abhishek Sharma will be the vice-captain. 
The regular captain of SRH has arrived in India, and during warm-ups at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium, he was spotted running short distances. He was then bowling in the nets as well. He indicated that his best-case scenario would be to regain full fitness in time for the IPL's second half and the knockout stages in late May. 

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

Cummins also backed Ishan Kishan's early-season achievement as captain, highlighting his leadership experience with Jharkhand, whom he guided to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy victory in December 2025. 
Sunrisers Hyderabad will kick off their campaign against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28 in the tournament opener.

"Ishan's had a really successful captaincy stint with his local side in the last year or so. Those guys, you're leaning on anyway. We've got quite an experienced bowling group of local guys, so a few of the younger guys that come through that I don't know as well, particularly early on in a season, I'm definitely leaning on the local guys who do know them well or even speak the language. Most of the guys speak really great English, but some of them don't, and there are local dialects, so that can be a little bit of a barrier for an international captain,” said Cummins.

Pat Cummins was appointed SRH skipper before the IPL 2024. Under his captaincy, SRH were runners-up in the 2024 IPL. They lost the finals against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Following this, in the 2025 edition, they finished 6th on the points table.