Australian pacer Pat Cummins on Thursday said that he has been in touch with his owners and is optimistic of playing the IPL this year.

Pat Cummins was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 15.50 crore in December’s auction as the pacer broke the record for the most expensive foreign buy in the history of the league.

“Whenever I speak to the owners of the team and the staff there, they’re still really confident that it can be played at some stage this year,” Cummins told SEN on Thursday.

“I was really looking forward to playing it for many obvious reasons, hopefully it goes ahead.

Pat Cummins believes the IPL will be a great way to resume cricket after the coronavirus-forced hiatus and the high-octane tournament will also help in preparing for the T20 World Cup this year.

“It could be a great way to get back into playing cricket (after the Covid-19 stoppage). It’s T20, not as cumbersome on your body.

“We’ve got a big World Cup that is going to be played at some stage, so playing as much high-quality T20 cricket as we can is great.”

Cummins is ready to embrace quarantine periods, biosecurity bubbles and other strict protocols, starting with a range of pre-season restrictions.

“Whatever it takes to get back playing cricket safely,” he said. ICC board is set to discuss the IPL, T20 World Cup and other coronavirus scheduling issues during next week’s video conference.

“The flavour of IPL is that best players of the world come and play, and everyone is committed to maintaining that flow,” Johri said overnight, adding international players’ decision to participate or not would be respected.

“After the current phase of lockdown ends, there is the monsoon. Cricketing activities can start only after the monsoon.