T20 World Cup: Pat Cummins ruled out, no Steve Smith in Australia’s squad
Australia have been handed a major setback just one week ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. Mercurial fast bowler Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the tournament due to a persistent back issue that bothered him during the Ashes series as well.
Australia named their 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup on Saturday, January 31, just a week away from the start of the tournament. Mitchell Marsh leads the strong side, which will be pushing for their second T20 World Cup trophy.
Cummins is not the only top player to not feature in the 15-member list. Senior batter Steve Smith and big-hitter Matt Short have also been omitted from the 15-member list.
Australia’s T20 World Cup Squad
Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Ben Dwarshuis, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matt Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.
Selector Tony Dodemaide reacted to the omission of Cummins and said that left-arm swing bowler Ben Dwarshuis has been drafted in as his replacement.
“With Pat needing more time to recover from his back injury. Ben is a ready replacement who offers a left-arm pace option as well as dynamic fielding and late-order hitting,” the selector said while announcing the squad.
“We believe his ability to swing the ball at good pace along with clever variations will be well suited to the conditions we expect and overall structure of the squad,” he concluded.
Pat Cummins’ Back Injury
The Australia Test and ODI captain was on a long break ahead of the 5-match Ashes series due to a back injury. Cummins was suffering from a lumbar injury which forced him to play just one Test match in the Ashes series.
One of the most highly rated bowlers of this generation, Australia will miss Cummins’ knowledge of bowling in difficult conditions. The fast bowler captains SunRisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League and guided the franchise to a final’s finish in the 2024 season.
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