Pat Cummins has made it absolutely clear that playing for Australia remains his top priority for the coming years. His big statement comes amidst growing speculations around Australian players choosing franchise cricket over national cricket.
Speaking at the New Balance Grey Days 2026 celebration and the launch of The New Retail Concept store in Delhi NCR on Tuesday, May 19, the Australian Test and ODI captain said that he is committed to Australian cricket.
Cummins told ESPNcricinfo, “Nothing has changed for me, my priority is Australian cricket, No. 1, particularly Test cricket.”
He continued, “As Test captain, I never want to miss any Test cricket and make myself available for as many Aussie games as I can. The IPL is good in that it normally fits in our holiday break, so that’s the obvious one, but they are probably my main focuses and I don’t see that’s going to change at all for the next few years for me at least.”
Cummins, a right-armed pace bowler, is currently set to miss the upcoming white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh because of his involvement in the ongoing IPL playoffs and the need to manage his resting period ahead of a busy Test calendar. Australia are expected to play around 20 Tests between August 2026 and August 2027.
‘Physically I feel great’ – Pat Cummins on return to competitive cricket after injury layoff
Cummins had to spend months on the sidelines due to recurring stress fractures in his back. It forced him to miss out on Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year. However, the Australian captain is now feeling fresh and raring to go following an extended rest period.
“I actually feel really fresh for the last four months,” Cummins said. “I haven’t played as much. So physically, I feel as good as I have probably in six or seven years. I think a lot of the reason why I did probably miss longer than perhaps I could have was with the next 18 months in mind.”
He added, “Stress fractures in your back do recur quite often and we just wanted to eliminate all that risk to make sure that if I had a problem in six months, that could rule me out of a lot of those 20 Tests. So physically, I feel great. My back’s fully healed, really strong. We took a very low-risk approach to the rehab to give myself the best chance to play all those Test matches.”
