Australia has left fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood out of its limited overs squads for upcoming tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh later this month.
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Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel, right, and coach Hemang Badani during the IPL T20 match against Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley cricket stadium in New Delhi on May 05, 2026.
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Australia’s big three, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood, will miss the early stages of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, with young pacer Josh Ellis also sidelined completely from the tournament due to injury.

The development was confirmed by cricket.com.au on Friday (March 20, 2026).

However, it is understood none of Australia’s ace speedsters, Starc, Cummins, and Hazlewood will be available for their franchises when the IPL 2026 kickoff on March 28.

Cricket Australia (CA) is taking a precautionary approach with their veteran pacers as they are set to have a lengthy 12-month period, where they will play up to 21 matches, including crucial tours of South Africa, India and England, before defending their ODI World Cup crown in southern Africa in late 2027, the statement said.

The trio’s availability will depend on progress in their return to play protocols over the next few weeks.

Test captain Cummins played one Test match against England during the Ashes series last year due to a back stress injury, while Hazlewood was ruled out of the entire Ashes series due to hamstring and Achilles issues.The veteran pacers also missed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.

Starc, on the other hand, played all five Ashes Tests and also featured in the Big Bash League. However, the left-arm pacer missed the T20 World Cup, having retired from T20Is late last year. Nathan Ellis has suffered a recurrence of the right hamstring injury he suffered in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup.

Also Read | IPL 2026: Rajasthan Royals keen to shield teenager Suryavanshi from the media glare

The 31-year-old recovered to feature in all four of Australia’s group-stage games, but Cricket Tasmania has confirmed he reaggravated his hamstring during last week’s One-Day Cup final in Hobart.

Cummins is the skipper of Sunrisers Hyderabad, whereas Mitchell Starc is with Delhi Capitals, and five-time champions Chennai Super Kings bought Nathan Ellis for the Indian Premier League 2026 season.In place of Cummins, the Hyderabad-based franchise has confirmed that India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan will be the stand-in skipper for the 2026 season.

Read | IPL 2026: Five possible overseas replacement players for CSK after Nathan Ellis’ injury

Australia selector Tony Dodemaide had said that Cummins and Hazlewood’s availability for the IPL purely was 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,” said Dodemaide.

“It’s not going to be frustrating for us at all. We know their commitment to want to play and succeed for Australia.”

Also Read | IPL | Kohli has a long stint as RCB begins training

Jack Edwards ruled out due to foot injury

Australia all-rounder Jack Edwards has also been ruled out of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 due to a foot injury, according to ESPNcricinfo on Friday.

The 25-year-old Edwards was signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) for ₹3 crore during the IPL auction. The Australian all-rounder was the only uncapped overseas player to be signed up at the 2025 auction.

Edwards made his T20I debut for Australia against Pakistan at Lahore in January 2026. The all-rounder has played just one match till now, scoring five runs.

In T20s, the 25-year-old has played 77 matches and 57 innings, scoring 853 runs and picking up 52 wickets.

Edwards had a strong Big Bash League (BBL) 2025-26 edition. He picked up 19 wickets and scored 133 runs in 13 matches for the Sydney Sixers. He has played two Sheffield Shield games for New South Wales, his state team, since then, the last of those fixtures getting over only on Thursday.

Read | IPL 2026 | Jayawardene eager to see Rohit’s ‘newer version’ in action

Edward’s absence is an additional blow for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who will be without their regular skipper Pat Cummins for the start of the IPL 2026 as he continues to recover from lumbar stress injury. The Hyderabad-based franchise has named India wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan as the stand-in skipper.

Edwards’ injury is an extension of the list of injuries to Australian fast bowlers. Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis, apart from Cummins, are also missing the IPL either partially or completely owing to injuries.

Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have announced the schedule of the first phase of IPL 2026 edition. Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in the tournament opener on March 28.

Also Read |IPL 2026 Countdown | Shreyas’ Kings have the resources to go one step further

The Hyderabad-based franchise will then face three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders on April 2, followed by their matches against Lucknow Super Giants and Punjab Kings on April 5 and April 11, respectively. 

(With inputs from PTI)

Published – March 20, 2026 11:39 am IST

Australia’s T20 team captain Mitchell Marsh. File
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India’s Harshit Rana, left, asks after Australia’s Josh Hazlewood, after his delivery hit the latter on his helmet on the fourth day of the first cricket test between Australia and India in Perth, Australia, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024.
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Australia suffered a blow in the lead-up to the second Test at Adelaide from December 6 as Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out.

According to a statement by Cricket Australia, the speedster has a ‘low grade left side injury’. Sean Abbott and Brendan Dogget have been added to the Australian squad. However, most probably, Scott Boland will get the selector’s nod as Hazlewood’s replacement for the playing eleven.

Hazlewood took five wickets in the first test in Perth where Australia were thrashed by 295 runs to fall 1-0 behind in the five-match series.

Australia have another injury concern for all-rounder Mitchell Marsh who pulled up sore after bowling 17 overs in Perth.

Uncapped all-rounder Beau Webster was called into the squad two days ago as cover for Marsh.

Australia are already without regular all-rounder Cameron Green, who was ruled out of the series after opting to have surgery on a stress fracture in his lumbar spine.

India leads the five-Test series at 1-0.

(with inputs from Reuters)

Australia’s Nathan Lyon, left, hands the ball to teammate Josh Hazlewood on the second day of their cricket test match against the West Indies in Adelaide.
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Ace off-spinner Nathan Lyon has already started his homework on rising batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal with England spinner Tom Hartley’s inputs on the southpaw safely stored in his memory bank ahead of the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia starting from November 22.

Jaiswal, who scored a century on debut in the West Indies last year, scored an astounding 712 runs in the five-Test series against England at home earlier this year.

But the pace and bounce on offer on Australian tracks will pose a different challenge for the Mumbaikar.

Also Read:Border-Gavaskar Trophy in sight, Cummins takes eight-week break

“I haven’t come across him [Jaiswal] yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers,” Lyon was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“The way he (Jaiswal) played against England, I watched that quite closely and thought that was quite amazing.

“I had some really good chats with Tom Hartley (England left-arm spinner) about different ways he went about it to different guys which I found quite interesting.”

Lyon had a stint in English county with Lancashire and had an opportunity to share notes with Hartley, who had 20 wickets in four Tests against India and he is someone who has first-hand knowledge of Jaiswal’s exploits.

The 36-year-old Lyon, who has 530 wickets from 129 Tests, feels that with so much information “floating around”, Aussies have the best chance to accomplish the “unfinished business” against India.

“I love talking about cricket, so if I can talk to someone who has played Test cricket, I might be able to pick up something I’m not aware of. There’s so much knowledge floating around this game that we can always tap into.” Since winning the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar 2-0, Australia have lost the next four series against India — two to Virat Kohli’s side (2016-17, 2018-19), Ajinkya Rahane (2021) and Rohit Sharma (2023).

Also Read: India can do a hat-trick of Test series triumphs in Australia: Ravi Shastri

“If the plans we’ve spoken about come to true, then I think it will be.” Along with Lyon, Josh Hazlewood is another survivor from the 2014-15 series and conceded Australia’s recent results against India present a significant hole in their record.

“It’s been ten years of unfinished business, it’s been a long time, and I know we’re extremely hungry to turn things around, especially here at home,” Lyon said.

“Don’t get me wrong, India is an absolute superstar side and extremely challenging but I’m extremely hungry to turn things around and make sure we get that trophy back,” he said.

Lyon feels that this Australian team under Pat Cummins is slightly different compared to Tim Paine’s team that lost back-to-back series against India at home.

“Feel like we are a different team to a couple of years ago. We are on a journey of becoming a great Australian cricket team. We’re definitely not there but we are along that journey and have been playing some decent cricket.” Beating India in a Test series could tick a box in many players’ CV, reckoned Hazlewood.

“There are quite a few players who have never beaten India in a Test series. It’s quite astounding to say that,” he said.

“That’s one we need to tick off, definitely, in particular at home — we should pretty much win every series here at home.

“That last series we obviously bowled them out for 36 in Adelaide and we thought here we go, (we are) back at home (and) confident on these grounds.

“People say we played India B in that last Test, but they can sometimes be stronger than the best team. They’ve got unbelievable depth in all formats and we are starting to see that now,” he added.

Hazlewood said while winning back the Border-Gavaskar trophy is topmost on agenda, the Aussies would also keep an eye on the World Test Championship points table.

“It’s always in the background, we have the table up [to see] where we are sitting and what we need to tick off,” he said.

“For me, it’s a big one because I didn’t get to play the last one in England so that’s a burning one for me.”