SYDNEY: Key fast bowler Pat Cummins will skip the T20 leg of Australia’s Qantas Tour of India in order to rest ahead of the Magellan Ashes this summer.
The paceman is not carrying an injury but selectors have decided to send him home after the fifth ODI in Nagpur on Sunday week in order to freshen up ahead of the start of the Sheffield Shield season.
In an ominous sign for England, the decision to send Cummins home early replicates that of four years ago when Mitchell Johnson was rested from an Indian tour in order to prepare for the Ashes, in which he took a record-breaking 37 wickets in Australia’s 5-0 whitewash.
A replacement for Cummins for the three-match T20 series in India, which runs from October 7 to 13, will be named at a later date.
