T20 World Cup 2026: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood Included In Australia's Squad Despite Injuries

Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood have been included in the Australian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 despite the two bowlers being injured currently. The squad will be led by all-rounder Mitchell Marsh.

The next T20 World Cup will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka and will start from Feb. 7 with final being played on Mar. 8 this year.

Pat Cummins, Australia's ODI and Test skipper, has been diagnosed with lumbar stress reaction. The injury made him sit out of the first two Ashes Test. The pacer did make a comeback for the third Test but following the match he was ruled out of the remaining two games.

Hazlewood, meanwhile, is struggling with hamstring and Achilles heel injuries which has forced him to sit out of the entire Ashes series.

Another injured player who has been named in the 15-man squad is Tim David. The hard-hitting batter got injured while playing a Big Bash League game.

All three players will need to prove their fitness in the coming weeks or they will be replaced.

The teams can make changes in the squad up until early Feb.

Australia are in Group B of the T20 World Cup. The group also consists of Ireland, Oman, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Australia begin their World Cup campaign on Feb.11 with a match against Ireland. On Feb.13 they will face Zimbabwe. The team will play Sri Lanka next and that game is scheduled for Feb.16 and their final group game is on Feb.20 against Oman.

Australia's first two games will be played in Colombo and the last two fixtures will be played in Pallekele.

Australia have once won the ICC T20 World Cup, when they lifted the trophy in 2021 under Aaron Finch's captaincy.

Australia T20 World Cup squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Cameron Green, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa