Cummins back in India on Friday and set for Sunrisers' trip to Jaipur against Rajasthan Royals
Sunrisers Hyderabad will finally have their captain in the travelling party. Pat Cummins, who has not played a minute of IPL 2026, has cleared a fitness assessment in Sydney after a stint of rehab work and is due to land in India on Friday evening to reconnect with the squad. Head coach Daniel Vettori told reporters earlier this month that the plan was for Cummins to sit out one more game and slot back into the XI for the trip to Jaipur on April 25 for Match 36 against the Rajasthan Royals.
A careful return from a back issue
Cummins has been managing a lumbar stress problem that flared up at the back end of the Australian summer. He linked up briefly with Sunrisers for the tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 28 and was part of the travelling squad for the Kolkata game a few days later, before being sent home to complete his recovery under the watch of Cricket Australia's medical staff. The clearance from that programme is what has allowed Friday's flight out.
A stress issue in the lower back is not a thing you rush a fast bowler through. Vettori has been consistent about this in his pressers, and the extra week between the fitness test and a first game gives the medical team a training block with live bowling before Cummins takes the field against RR.
What SRH have managed without him
The good news for Sunrisers is that the batting group has carried them to fourth in the table. Abhishek Sharma's unbeaten 135 from 68 balls against Delhi Capitals on April 21 was the centrepiece of their third straight win, a 47-run demolition that left SRH on 8 points from 7 games and right in the playoff conversation. Abhishek now sits level with Virat Kohli on nine T20 hundreds for an Indian batter, for what it is worth.
The bowling unit in Cummins' absence has leaned on Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel and Harsh Dubey, with Malinga picking up 4 for 32 in that same DC win. None of them are quite the captain, though, and Cummins coming back gives the side someone who can take the new ball, own the death overs, and take pressure off the spin options through the middle.
Small workload, big symbolic return
Expectations for Cummins in Jaipur should be reasonable. A three or four-over spell is the realistic ceiling for a first outing after a back issue, and SRH are likely to keep him away from bowling a full quota against a Rajasthan batting line-up that returned to form with the 40-run win over Lucknow on April 22. The value is as much in the leadership as in the overs. Ishan Kishan has held the fort as interim captain in Cummins' absence and the side has climbed into the top four, but the team has its full-time skipper back for the business end.
A late April return was the timeline Vettori set publicly when Cummins first flew home. Clearing the fitness test puts a date on it.
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