Sydney, Australia

Australia Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins is clear about his priorities to remain fit and available for his country over any franchise-based league worldwide. Cummins, a leader of the highest quality, helped Australia taste success in two ICC events last year – the World Test Championship Final and ODI World Cup, with both wins coming against India. However, appointed SunRisers Hyderabad captain ahead of the previous edition, Cummins said he is unbothered by new IPL rules surrounding overseas players.

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The new IPL ruling allows the governing council to ban any overseas player who decides to skip the following edition after getting picked in the auction for reasons barring health and emergency, from the league for two years. Given several players, mostly English continued this practice over the years, the IPL decision-makers have put a full stop to it.

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Meanwhile, part of the IPL set-up for over a decade now, Cummins has never sidelined himself after getting picked in the auction. Though he prioritised playing for Australia ahead of anything else, Cummins has also abided by his commitment to his IPL teams over the years.

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During an exclusive chat with the Sydney Morning Herald, Cummins showed no reluctance at IPL’s new ruling on overseas players. 

“I’ll work out in the next little bit what this season looks like. There’s a bit of a tweak in the rules, but I don’t know whether that would have affected me in the past, I’ve never pulled out after the auction. But it is one more factor to consider with the IPL. 

“Test cricket is the absolute No. 1 priority, World Cups are right up there, and then I think you use them as your tent poles and work out what else makes sense around that," Cummins said.

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Cummins readies for Border-Gavaskar series

With Australia scheduled to play five Tests against India at home, starting in Perth on November 22, Cummins has already begun his preparations. 

Cricket Australia rested the star seamer for the UK Tour to have a refreshed Cummins available for the marquee Border-Gavaskar series.

With Australia hosting Pakistan in the white-ball series, it remains to be seen if the selectors pick the pace trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood or rest them for evident reasons.

Meanwhile, with one eye on the IPL retention list, whose submission's last date is October 31, SRH will retain Cummins, with several Indian players in the queue to join the list, including Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Umran Malik. SRH would also like to retain Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen. 

(With inputs from agencies)