Cricket: Cricket-Cummins unsure of future as Australia ODI skipper, eyes IPL return

KOLKATA (Reuters) – Pat Cummins is unsure whether he will continue as Australia’s one-day international captain after the World Cup but is looking to return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) next season in preparation for the Twenty20 showpiece.

Test skipper Cummins, who will lead Australia into their semi-final against South Africa on Thursday, took on the ODI role with an eye firmly on the World Cup when Aaron Finch retired from the format last year.

The paceman said he was “potentially” interested in staying on after the tournament but that the decision would rest with coach Andrew McDonald and head selector George Bailey’s assessment of his workload and Australia’s priorities.

“We’ve been pretty open, me and Andrew and George around different times in the year you’re going to have different priorities,” Cummins told reporters in Kolkata.

“After here, the focus shifts back to test cricket for a fair while. Probably like we’ve done in the past, at times white-ball cricket is going to have to shift so we fully focus on test cricket. So yeah, there’s no end date in sight.

“I feel like I’ve been managed really well and looked after, albeit in a really, really busy year where you don’t really want to give up any cricket.”

The captaincy of the T20 side was vacated when Finch retired from all international cricket in February but Mitch Marsh is favourite to claim that role ahead of the World Cup in the Caribbean and U.S. next June.

Cummins is keen to play a full part in that tournament, however, and signalled a return to the IPL next year after skipping it this year because of his busy schedule.

“I feel like I haven’t played a heap of T20 cricket and in some ways I feel like I haven’t played my best T20 cricket for a little while,” Cummins added.

“I’m really excited, I’m probably going to go into the IPL auction for next year to try to get some games before that World Cup and push a case to not only make the side but get back to how I feel like I can bowl in T20 cricket.”

(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Peter Rutherford)