Pat Cummins Awaits Fitness Clearance for IPL 2026, Daniel Vettori Shares Update

Daniel Vettori provided an update on Pat Cummins’ fitness as the SRH captain awaits Cricket Australia clearance for IPL 2026.

Sunrisers Hyderabad is set to begin IPL 2026 without Pat Cummins due to fitness issues. The Australian pacer missed the T20 World Cup with a back injury. Pat Cummins arrived in India but is awaiting Cricket Australia’s fitness clearance to play.

Head coach Daniel Vettori provided an update on Cummins and remains confident about his return. He expects the skipper to be available within 10 to 12 days. Vettori explained the recovery process in detail. Cummins is focusing on strength and conditioning after a long break. The main challenge remains building the bowling workload gradually and medical clearance is required before increasing intensity.

“His fitness has been exceptional because he’s been out of the game for an extended period of time, so, he’s had that time to work on that fitness, a real block of work around strength and conditioning. The only challenge for him was the bowling loads,” Vettori said.

“So once he got the all clear from Cricket Australia to build those bowling loads, it’s obviously a bit of a painstaking process to get the lungs up to where he feels confident and strong about bowling. Hopefully, we can get a definitive timeline, probably in the next 10-12 days around when he can return to play,” he continued.

“It’s always a challenge when you take out that integral part of your team’s captain and fast bowler but I think we’ve got suitable replacements and I know Ishan is incredibly excited about the captain of the team and we can lean on Pat the whole time until he’s actually able to play,” the coach added.

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Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan will lead the side in the opening match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.