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Melbourne: Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins said his decision to miss the T20 World Cup due to injury was also motivated by his desire to be fully fit for the upcoming Test season, in which he wants to play all the matches. Australia’s Test and ODI captain Cummins was ruled out of the T20 World Cup after not fully recovering from a back injury. Ben Dwarshius has been included in the team in his place. The T20 World Cup will start from February 7. “It was really unfortunate,” Cummins told the Australian Associated Press. I am feeling quite well, just had a minor problem and it took less time to recover from it. I will rest for a few weeks and then plan further.”

He said, “After the Adelaide Test match, we knew that the injury would take four to eight weeks to heal completely. Initially we thought it would only take four weeks because I was feeling so good, but I have just had a scan and the doctors think it will take a few more weeks for it to heal completely. That’s why there was a little shortage of time.

Australia’s busy Test schedule begins in August when it plays two Test matches against Bangladesh in Darwin and Mackay. He will then tour South Africa for Tests and ODIs in September. Australia will next host New Zealand and then tour India for the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series. After this, he will play a pink ball Test match against England in Melbourne in March next year on the completion of 150 years of Test cricket. This will be followed by the Ashes series in England, the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June.

Cummins said, “We thought that considering the number of cricket matches in the upcoming season, it would be good to exercise restraint in the first six months of the year.” The injury will heal and there will be no need to worry about it. If I had not been cautious about this now, the problem could have increased.” Cummins, however, is hopeful that he will be fit in time to captain Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, starting on March 26.

He said, “We will take the decision based on the condition of the injury. There will be another scan after a few weeks and if the report is good then we will gradually improve our routine. It is a little easier to prepare for T20 matches as compared to Test matches.