Australian right-arm fast bowler Pat Cummins admitted that his hip injury is not very serious and will make a full recovery with time. The speedster is currently participating in Australia’s limited overs series in Sri Lanka.
Cummins left IPL 2022 early to manage his workload, after which he was rested from the T20I series against Sri Lanka. However, he made a comeback in Australia’s two-wicket win in the first ODI against Dasun Shanaka & Co at Pallekele on Tuesday.
Australia’s ODI and T20I captain Aaron Finch said that Cummins had been battling the injury for more than a year.
Still, Cummins said the injury “wasn’t big at all.”
Cummins was quoted as saying, “It’s been a while now. That back end of the IPL felt like it got really bad… and (it was obvious) I needed a little break. ” reporters on Wednesday.
After Kane Richardson was ruled out of the five-match ODI series due to a hamstring injury, Australia’s bowling arsenal was severely depleted. Mitchell Starc, who was battling a finger injury, also did not help him. Also, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been sidelined due to a calf strain.
Cummins said Starc had returned to bowling but the selectors decided to be cautious ahead of the two-match Test series starting June 29 in Galle.
“He is waiting a bit and I think the plan was to get stitches in the next day or two. We don’t want to jeopardize the Test series by reopening that (cut). Too soon. A good one,” he said. The result will be if he plays some of this (ODI) series,” Cummins said.
Earlier, Cricket Australia had mentioned that Travis Head and Matthew Kuhnman would be included in the ODI squad after Ashton Agar and Marcus Stoinis suffered injuries in the last game.
Right-arm pacer Scott Boland joined the ODI squad on Tuesday and is available for selection for the second ODI of the series.
“Agar will remain with the team for rehabilitation and ongoing evaluation, while Stoinis has been ruled out of the rest of the series due to a muscle strain sustained while batting last night,” the statement read.