Hazlewood and Cummins set to miss first few IPL 2026 games

Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are set to miss the early fixtures of the IPL 2026. Hazlewood who suffered from a hamstring injury will miss the first couple of games for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. On the other hand, Pat Cummins is unlikely to feature in few opening matches of Sunrisers Hyderabad as he has been in a rehabilitation from a niggling back injury that he picked up last July in the Caribbeans.

Both Hazlewood and Cummins were also subsequently ruled out of the T20 World Cup. However, the Australian selectors showed full support to their senior players and refused to question their commitments to the national team.  “It’s a timing issue. If it was in reverse, the IPL was first and the World Cup was second, then they’d be missing the IPL to play in the World Cup. It’s not going to be frustrating for us at all. We know their commitment to want to play and succeed for Australia,” selector Tony Dodemaide had said back in February.

CSK to plan a mega reunion: Report

Chennai Super Kings is planning a mega reunion that includes even formal players who are currently associated with other IPL teams. The CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan however clarified to Cricbuzz, “It is just a pre-launch for the season and an exercise in fan engagement. There is nothing more to read into it.”

Reportedly several formal players who have presented the franchise over the past 16 seasons will be part of the event. It is expected to be a 5-hour long event at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, with a segment reserved for a performance by AR Rahman. The franchise has started to reach out to other teams to check the availability of their coaching staff who were associated with the CSK earlier.

Ollie Pope calls out the critics, defends England’s intent during the Ashes

Ollie Pope took a dig at the critics for suggesting England were not “fussed” about winning the Ashes. While he accepted that dropping him was a right call, he insisted that their poor outing was not because of lack of intent.  “All we wanted to do was go and win the Ashes. It’s obviously not nice, I guess. But I can understand why people felt that way.” He added, “At the same time, I guess the perception that we weren’t fussed was probably the hard thing. Because, I mean, everyone’s trying to manage with the pressures of an Ashes series like that and trying to get the best out of their performance and doing what they can.”

Speaking of the decision of axing him, Pope said, “I knew where I stood. Getting dropped was tough, but it was the right decision at the time.” He continued, “I’ve played a lot of Test cricket, 64 Tests, but I still feel like my best batting years are to come.”