IPL 2026: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood To Miss Initial Part Of Season Due To Injury - Report

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 is all set to commence from March 28, Saturday. Just a little more than a week remains before the start of India's cricket festival and participant franchises have all started preparations for the upcoming seasons. Players, both local and overseas, have started to gather in the respective camps from pre-season training.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2026 have just ended and after the finish of an intense competition, most overseas players and Indian Internationals have opted to take a break before they start their preparations for the IPL 2026.

Australia were knocked out of the T20 World Cup early. They suffered two losses against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in the group stage and shockingly had to bow out from the competition. Their premier pacers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood missed the competition as they were recovering from injuries.

It was expected both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood will be fit in time to join their respective franchises, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Although, with the IPL 2026 approaching near, there has been a different development.

According to a report from Cricbuzz, Josh Hazlewood is all set to miss the first two matches of IPL 2026. He is currently recovering from an injury he sustained ahead of the home summer season, which caused him to miss the entire Ashes and the T20 World Cup. The initial injury was a hamstring issue, but he suffered an Achilles problem during recovery as well.

Josh Hazlewood has been one of the key reasons why RCB broke their 18-year-long title drought during IPL 2026. He scalped 22 wickets with an economy of 8.77. His spells at crunch moments helped RCB go all the way to lift the title. Although they have backed him up with New Zealand quick Jacob Duffy and Sri Lankan Nuwan Thushara, replicating Hazlewood's impact till he is available will be a challenge for RCB.

Not only Hazlewood, his Australian teammate, Pat Cummins is also expected to miss a few games of the IPL 2026. Him being the captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, reports are also suggesting that the franchise are considering either of Ishan Kishan or Abhishek Sharma to takeover captaincy from Cummins in his absence.

Cummins suffered a niggling back injury during Australia's tour of West Indies in July 2025. He hasn't been able to be in action since then and only played a solitary Test for Australia in the Ashes 2025-26. His recovery is in progress as well and an exact timeline has not been given on his availability.

Cummins continues to be a crucial piece of SRH's leadership group and the franchise played the final in IPL 2024 under his captaincy. Cummins represents and a brave and destructive brand of cricket and in his absence, the franchise will miss the motivating presence in the dressing room. In terms of skill, SRH will suffer a big blow in their bowling quality if Cummins is not available in the start of the season.

Despite the initial unavailability, reports suggest that both the players will be available for most parts of the season.

The Australian selectors were categorical in their support of the two senior players when it comes to them prioritising the national team over IPL commitments in the wake of them missing out on the World Cup.

"It's a timing issue. If it was in reverse, the IPL was first and the World Cup was second, then they'd be missing the IPL to play in the World Cup. It's not going to be frustrating for us at all. We know their commitment to want to play and succeed for Australia," selector Tony Dodemaide had said back in February.

Given Australia have away Test tours to South Africa, India and England alongside the 2027 ODI World Cup in Africa in the next one year, Cricket Australia will want to make no compromises in the fitness situation of their two premier pacers.