The 31-year-old, who recently led Australia to a 4-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) win over Australia last month, skipped the Test series against Sri Lanka due to the birth of his second child. He has also been nursing an ankle issue that flared up due to heavy workload in the BGT.
“Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to resume any type of bowling so he’s heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald told SEN. “Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They’ll be the two that we look at for that leadership post.
“But, as I said, Patty is hugely unlikely, which is a bit of shame,” he added. Not just Pat Cummins, Australia have more misery to deal with as pacer Josh Hazlewood is also racing against time to be fit.
It is understood that Hazlewood is dealing with a hip issue after recovering from the side and calf injuries that saw him sit out in three of the five Tests against India and the entire Test tour of Sri Lanka.
