Pat Cummins unlikely to be fit for Champions Trophy, Australia to name new captain soon – India TV

Australia captain Pat Cummins is ‘heavily unlikely’ for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy that is scheduled to start on February 19. Cummins missed the ongoing Sri Lanka tour for the birth of his second child, however, he has also been nursing an ankle issue since the Test series against India. He managed the injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but has been attending after series ended.

Australia’s ODI players picked for the two matches against Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy are due to depart on Thursday. But head coach Andrew McDonald has stated that Cummins is unlikely to be among the set of players to travel. Moreover, Josh Hazlewood is also struggling to get fit in time and McDonald believes they will get complete clarity on their fitness in the next couple of days.

“Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to resume any type of bowling so he’s heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain. But, as I said, Patty is hugely unlikely, which is a bit of shame, and we’ve also got Josh Hazlewood, who is battling [to be fit] at the moment. So that medical information will land over the next couple of days and we’ll be able to shore that up and let everyone know the direction,” McDonald said.

The Aussie head coach also revealed that Steve Smith and Travis Head are in the race to be named the captain for the Sri Lanka ODIs and Champions Trophy. “Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat back home. They’ll be the two that we look at for that leadership post.

“They’re the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the [first] Test match. He’s done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well. So it’s between those two,” he added.