Pat Cummins: 'My priority is Australian cricket'

Pat Cummins has declared that Australian cricket is his No. 1 priority for the next few years at least amid conjecture. some of Australia's best players may turn their backs on national duty to play franchise cricket beyond the IPL.

Cummins, Australia's Test. ODI captain, is already set to miss Australia's upcoming white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh due to his involvement in the IPL playoffs and the need to rest ahead of 20 (possibly 21) Tests between August 2026 and August 2027.

The commitment of Australia's best players to both international cricket. the BBL has been a topic of debate in recent weeks with five senior players left unimpressed by initial Cricket Australia contract offers earlier this month. Cummins put himself at the centre of the conversation in March when he spoke on the Business of Sport podcast about a "tension point" among Australia's players around playing two Tests against Bangladesh in August this year while letting go of the chance to earn upwards of A$675,000 (US$485,000) to play in the Hundred.

But speaking at the New Balance Grey Days 2026 celebration. the launch of The New Retail Concept store in Delhi NCR on Tuesday, Cummins was firm in his commitment to Australian cricket for the near future.

"Nothing has changed for me, my priority is Australian cricket, No. 1, particularly Test cricket," Cummins told ESPNcricinfo. "As Test captain, I never want to miss any Test cricket. make myself available for as many Aussie games as I can.

"The IPL is good in that it normally fits in our holiday break, so that's the obvious one, but they are probably my main focuses. I don't see that's going to change at all for the next few years for me at least."

Cummins has only ever missed Tests through injury. He only played one of the recent Ashes Tests due to a series back injury. But he has missed a lot of white-ball cricket for Australia in the last two years. mainly to preserve his body for Tests. Since the 2023 ODI World Cup win in India, the skipper has only played two ODIs for his country. He has also not played a T20I since the 2024 T20 World Cup. Since then, he has played one MLC season (six games) with San Francisco Unicorns. two IPL seasons for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He played all 14 games in 2025 for SRH. has only played six so far in 2026 after missing the first half due to his back injury.

Part of the reason for being so conservative with his back issue was to put himself in a position to play as many of the next 20 Tests as possible.

"I actually feel really fresh for the last four months," Cummins said. "I haven't played as much. So physically, I feel as good as I have probably in six or seven years. I think a lot of the reason why I did probably miss longer than perhaps I could have was with the next 18 months in mind. Stress fractures in your back do recur quite often. we just wanted to eliminate all that risk to make sure that if I had a problem in six months, that could rule me out of a lot of those 20 Tests. So physically, I feel great. My back's fully healed, really strong. We took a very low-risk approach to the rehab to give myself the best chance to play all those Test matches."

There will likely be serious discussions between Cummins, CA. SRH ahead of the 2027 IPL season about his availability as Australia have ten back-to-back Tests between December and mid-March next year before the IPL, including five in India, before a possible WTC final and five away Ashes Tests against England in June and July immediately following the IPL.

Cummins did not play the 2023 IPL season when Australia had a similar Test schedule with tours of India. England either side of the tournament. Mitchell Starc also skipped the IPL in 2023. while Josh Hazlewood played three games late in the season as a replacement player after suffering an injury on the tour of India before the tournament. Cameron Green was the only one of Australia's current three-format players who played the IPL in 2023,. he was eventually dropped at the end of the Ashes series after spending four months in India and only one night at home in Australia before the tour of England.

Meanwhile, Cummins did not weigh into the BBL privatisation debate that is raging in Australia at present, which is separate from the player pay debate,. the two things are intrinsically linked.

CA is pushing ahead with a hybrid model of testing the market for private investment into BBL clubs from three states Victoria, Western Australia. Tasmania, while South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland are set to be given the option to opt in at a later date.

"Those decisions sit with administrators," Cummins said. "As players, you always want the competition to keep growing, attract fans, and keep creating opportunities for younger players."

Cummins has not played in the BBL since 2019. won't play next season due to the Test tour of India. It is likely he would be available in 2027-28 if CA gets their wish of clearing January from international commitments in the new Future Tours Programme. is set to be discussed at ICC meetings in Ahmedabad later this month.