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Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Daniel Vettori has said that Pat Cummins could "hopefully" play in the back-end of April and has "looked really good" during the training sessions.
Cummins, the designated captain of SRH in the Indian Premier League (IPL), is rehabilitating from a back injury. Notably, the pacer has left the IPL 2026 camp and returned to Australia to undergo a final scan on his back injury, according to an ESPNcricinfo report. Speaking at the pre-match press conference ahead of SRH's match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday, Daniel Vettori said that Cummins is scheduled for a scan on April 15. He noted that Cummins will rejoin the squad and gradually build up his fitness, with a potential return to matches later in April. "Pat, very clear, as part of his schedule, he has to have a scan just to clear everything off on April 15th, and all going well because he's trained with us and he's looked really good. He'll rejoin the team and have a slow build-up to hopefully play in the game in the back end of April," Vettori said. Cummins' scan is a planned procedure to be carried out under the supervision of Cricket Australia (CA), according to the report. Cummins left India after Sunrisers Hyderabad's most recent match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on Thursday. He is expected to rejoin the squad on April 17, subject to clearance from CA. Cummins, who has been largely inactive since July last year--apart from featuring in a single Ashes Test in Adelaide--earlier said that he has resumed bowling in the nets and is gradually building up his workload as part of a structured rehabilitation plan. In place of Cummins, the Indian wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan is the skipper for SRH in the 2026 season. SRH started their IPL 2026 campaign on a poor note as they faced a six-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their campaign opener, but bounced back well in their second game as they defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 65 runs at the Eden Gardens. (ANI)
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