'Injured' Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood to be picked for T20 World Cup 2026, doubts over Tim David after injury rules him out of BBL 2025-26

Pat Cummins (back injury), Josh Hazlewood (hamstring and achilles injuries) and Tim David (hamstring injury) are doubtful for ICC T20 World Cup 2026.

Australian Cricket Team’s head coach Andrew McDonald has provided a big update on Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood’s comeback to the side for ICC T20 World Cup 2026. Both the Australian pacers are battling injuries and are doubtful to play in the ICC tournament, which will commence on February 7.

Cummins missed the first two games of The Ashes 2025-26 due to a back injury. He returned in the third test in Adelaide, leading the side to victory by 82 runs. However, he was rested for the next two games to manage his workload and avoid any chance of recurrence of his injury.

Hazlewood was ruled out of the entire Ashes campaign due to a hamstring and Achilles injuries. Although he was expected to make a comeback later in the series, he could not recover in time. He last played in the white-ball series against India in November.

Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood to be part of Australia’s provisional squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2026

McDonald informed that Cummins and Hazlewood will be part of Australia’s 15-member provisional squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 despite their injuries. He also added that a final decision on Cummins’ availability will be taken later after analysing his scans after a month.

“Pat will have a scan, I think in another four weeks, so that’ll give us the information then on where he’s at for the (T20) World Cup. He’ll be named in the squad of 15, and then we’ll get that information as to where he’s at,” he was quoted as saying by ICCCricket.com

“Josh is returning to bowl. He looks as though he should be right in terms of possible timeframes,” he added.

Tim David ruled out of the BBL 2025-26

Australian batter Tim David recently suffered a hamstring injury while playing for Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2025-26. A grade-two right hamstring strain has ruled him out of the remainder of the tournament. However, McDonald believes that David will recover in time for the T20 World Cup.

“Not sure whether it’s just pure muscle or tendon, and that’ll give us a timeframe. I think the timeframe will be kind on TD (Tim David) as well. So he should be available no matter what that injury is,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Australia are placed in Group B in ICC T20 World Cup 2026 and will play their opening encounter against Ireland on February 11. As a part of their preparation for the tournament, the Men in Yellow will clash with Pakistan in a three-match T20I series in January.

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