'Something Has Got To Give': Australia Captain Pat Cummins Hints At IPL Break In 2027 To Manage Workload Ahead Of Ashes & World Cup

Sydney: Australia skipper Pat Cummins has hinted that he could skip next year's Indian Premier League (IPL) as he prepares for a long Test season and for their road to the 2027 ODI World Cup.

Cummins is back home after featuring for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the second half of their season, which ended in the eliminator. He will be aiming to freshen his legs for the next Test assignment at home against Bangladesh from August.

After that, will be a stretch of 21 Tests in 12 months, with the qualification for the ICC World Test Championship final at stake. Tough away from home assignments against South Africa, India and England will be there, and Aussies will finish 2027 with the ODI World Cup. In March of that year will be the 150th anniversary Test between Australia and England in March.

Right in the middle is the IPL, happening before the Ashes campaign next year in England that Aussies will be raring to win, having not won a series there since 2021. Cummins said that a full five-match Test series against India away from home could leave him in need of a break before the away Ashes.

"Something has got to give at some stage next year and it is not going to be Test matches or an ODI World Cup," Cummins said to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I will make a call a lot closer and work with the franchise to see what makes sense. Things can change. I have had a couple of injuries pop up, so I do not really want to lock in anything."

"The priorities for me are always the Test matches and that ODI World Cup. I dare say if I play all of India, I need some sort of break before a pretty gruelling Ashes series," he continued.

The workload of the ageing pace trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood will be carefully managed throughout these tough Test and ODI assignments, and they could be rested during periods of a home four-Test series against New Zealand in December and January.

"Yeah, it is possible. I think we are fairly open-minded to anything, as we have seen over the last couple of years," Cummins said.

"Whether it is a home Test or an away Test, we do not see them as that different. A Test match is a Test match. We are pretty realistic that we're going to need more than three fast bowlers."

"I see a world where we are potentially wind some bowlers down, even say at the back end of an Indian series if they don't look like they are going to play, to give them an extra rest ahead of the Ashes," he continued.

Cummins, who featured in just one Ashes Test after the ICC World Test Championship final last year, says that he is "feeling a lot more fresher".

"It is going to be a big push the next 18 months or so, but I think we will look back on it hopefully and see it as one of the more rewarding periods of our career," he signed off.

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