Champions Trophy 2025: Cummins participation in jeopardy? Australian skipper to undergo scans for sore ankle
Cricket Australia chief selector George Bailey refused to make any comments on Cummins's participation for the Champions Trophy, but he said that the management is waiting for the scans before taking a final call.
FollowAustralia skipper Pat Cummins's availability for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 is currently hanging in balance as he is set to undergo scans for a sore ankle, which he sustained during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The ankle issue has been troubling the pacer through the Australian summer, but he managed to guide the team to regain the BGT title after 10 long years with a 3-1 series win and also secured the spot for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against South Africa. Despite a sore ankle, Cummins picked 25 wickets at an average of 21.36 in 10 innings and emerged as the second-highest wicket-taker of the five-match Test series.
Cricket Australia has recently announced the squad for the two-match series against Sri Lanka, but few veteran players, including Pat Cummins, were not on the list. Along with Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, who is recovering from calf injury, and Mitchell Marsh have been left out of the squad for the Sri Lanka Test tour, which will conclude the league stage of the ongoing WTC 2023-25 cycle. The side will be led by veteran top-batter Steve Smith.
With injury concerns looming over Pat Cummins ahead of the Champions Trophy, Australia might face leadership dilemma and a potential gap in their formidable bowling attack. Cricket Australia chief selector George Bailey refused to make any comments on Cummins's participation for the 50-over tournament, but he said that the management is waiting for the scans before taking a final call.
"There’s a little bit of work to do. He’s got a little bit of a sore ankle as well, so I think in the next week or so, he’s got a scan coming, and we’ll get a bit more information around where that’s at," Bailey told Nine.com.au.
"Not really sure yet. We’ll have to wait and see where that scan comes back and where it’s tracking." he added.
George Bailey expressed his confidence that pacer Josh Hazlewood would recover in time for the Champions Trophy.
The Champions Trophy will take place on 19th February and Australia will begin their quest for the second title of the tournament against long-time rivals England in Group B clash at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on February 22.
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