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After captaining Australia to a famous Test series win over India, regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in Sydney, captain Pat Cummins is likely to give the upcoming Test tour to Sri Lanka a miss due to the impending birth of his second child. If the 31-year-old is not going to play the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka in Galle at the turn of the month, then Steve Smith might get thrusted into taking the captaincy from him for the time being.
Notably, with Australia getting the better of India 3-1 in the BGT Test series, they are set to play in the highly anticipated World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 final against South Africa at the Lord’s in London. With that, the Tests matches in Sri Lanka effectively don’t have any bearing on the WTC table, but still, Australia will be looking to put together two strong performances, which will boost their confidence further, ahead of the WTC final in June.
Most likely I might struggle to get over there: Pat Cummins
When Pat Cummins was asked about whether he will be available for the upcoming Test tour to Sri Lanka, he responded, as per Cricket.com.au, “We'll wait and see.” The Australian captain also alluded to the reason as to why he might not travel to Sri Lanka later this month for the two-match series, “Becky (Pat Cummins’ wife) is hanging on at the moment (due to give birth to their second child), so we'll play by it by ear. But most likely I might struggle to get over there.”
In the absence of Pat Cummins, former captain Steve Smith, who is currently stranded on 9,999 Test runs, might take over the reins for the two Test matches against Sri Lanka in Galle, with the first one beginning on January 29, while the second one is scheduled to start on February 9. In regards to being a part of the Australian Test team during the next home summer, the 35-year-old remarked, “Yeah I think so. I was keen to go to Sri Lanka anyway – beyond there we’ll see what happens.”
The Australian squad for the Test tour to Sri Lanka will be named later this week, while they will be training in Dubai for nearly a week before arriving in the island nation.
