Melbourne [Australia], December 26 (ANI): Australia skipper Pat Cummins has his eyes set on next year's ICC T20 World Cup, saying that he is 'cooling his heels a little bit' after returning for the third Ashes Test at Adelaide after missing the first two fixtures due to a back injury.

Cummins featured in the Adelaide Test, playing a crucial role in sealing the Ashes series for Australia with a total of three wickets each across both innings. But with the Ashes already in the bag, Cummins has chosen to manage his workload ahead of next year's ICC T20 World Cup, which starts on February 7 and will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka. Cummins will be playing under the captaincy of Mitchell Marsh in the marquee T20I tournament. Australia is placed in Group B alongside Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Oman. They will start against Ireland on February 11 in Colombo.

In a video by 7Cricket, Cummins was quoted as saying ahead of the fourth Ashes Test, 'Got through Adelaide unscathed, pretty happy about it. Coming back from a back injury, playing back-to-back Test matches is pretty high risk, so that we will cool our heels for a little bit. T20 World Cup next month.'

After the West Indies Test series in July, Cummins did not feature in the white-ball series against South Africa and India at home due to a back injury and underwent an aggressive rehab plan, which helped him make his return just in time to seal the Ashes urn for Australia at Adelaide.

Cummins has yet to feature in a T20I for Australia since last year's T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA. His presence in the T20 circuit would not only be valuable for Australia but also for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), a team he captains in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

After a brilliant Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India in 2024/25, in which he emerged as second-highest wicket-taker with 25 scalps and bowled the series-high of 167 overs, the Aussie skipper missed the Sri Lanka Test tour and ICC Champions Trophy to nurse his injuries, but returned for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa and the tour to West Indies.

Injuries restricted Cummins' presence in 2025 to just six international matches, all Tests, taking 26 wickets at an average of 16.53, with best figures of 6/28, his sole five-wicket haul in 11 innings.

Meanwhile, England elected to bowl first, and a five-wicket haul from Josh Tongue (5/45) bowled out Australia for just 152 in the first innings. (ANI)