Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc set to skip Pakistan ODIs as Cricket Australia prioritises IPL commitments

Australia Players to Stay With IPL Franchises, Skip Early Pakistan ODIs

Cricket Australia has officially settled what was always likely to be one of the more delicate scheduling tussles of the 2026 calendar. According to a Cricbuzz report, Australia's players involved in the Indian Premier League 2026 playoffs — captain Pat Cummins included — will not be released early to join the national squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series in Pakistan. The decision effectively confirms what franchises had been quietly hoping for over the past few weeks: there will be no mid-tournament tug-of-war over their marquee Australian signings.

Why the Clash Exists

The scheduling overlap is unavoidable. The Pakistan Cricket Board has slotted the three-ODI series for May 30, June 2, and June 4, with the first match in Rawalpindi and the remaining two at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium. The Australian squad is scheduled to land in Islamabad on May 23 — but by then, the IPL 2026 playoffs will be in full swing.

• IPL 2026 league stage ends: May 24
• IPL 2026 playoffs begin: May 26 (Dharamshala)
• IPL 2026 final: May 31 (Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad)
• First Pakistan ODI: May 30 (Rawalpindi)

That overlap means Australian players whose franchises remain in the playoff hunt cannot physically be in two places at once. With the IPL final being played one day after the opening Pakistan ODI, Cricket Australia has chosen the path of least friction.

Cricket Australia's Position

According to the Cricbuzz report that broke the development, Cricket Australia has clearly informed the relevant players and their franchises that contractual IPL commitments will be respected. Players will not be asked to step away from their teams in the middle of a playoff campaign. The board has acknowledged that the timing is far from ideal, but has accepted that the broader cricketing calendar — and the financial-cum-relational importance of the IPL — makes it the most sensible call.

The Big Names Who Will Miss the Pakistan Series

According to multiple reports, including from The West Australian, three of Australia's most important fast bowlers are set to be unavailable for the entire Pakistan tour:

• Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad): ODI captain, currently leading SRH in the IPL 2026 playoff race. Even if SRH are eliminated early, his workload will likely be managed.
• Josh Hazlewood (Royal Challengers Bengaluru): Set to be rested as part of his ongoing recovery from injuries that lingered after the Ashes summer.
• Mitchell Starc (Delhi Capitals): Same workload-management reasoning as Hazlewood. Both pacers are also expected to skip the follow-up Bangladesh tour in June.

Cummins, in particular, has played only two ODIs since Australia's 2023 World Cup triumph. If he misses Pakistan, his next 50-over assignment may not come until the tour of Zimbabwe and South Africa later this year.

Travis Head and Cameron Green Also Likely to Be Rested

Beyond the pace troika, Cricket Australia is reportedly looking to manage the workloads of Travis Head and Cameron Green as well. Head has been central to SRH's powerplay assault all season, while Green is currently with Kolkata Knight Riders, a side teetering on the edge of the playoff race. Even if their franchises bow out before the Pakistan series, both players are likely to be given a rest break to recover for the bigger assignments later in the year.

Mitch Marsh Set to Lead — If Available

With Cummins absent, the natural choice to captain Australia in Pakistan is Mitch Marsh, the regular ODI stand-in skipper of recent years. Marsh, currently with the Lucknow Super Giants, is in a strong position to be available — LSG sit in the bottom half of the table after losing six matches on the trot, and their playoff hopes are now mathematically grim.

His teammate Josh Inglis, also at LSG, is another contender for the captaincy and a near-certainty for the squad. Wicketkeeper-batter Inglis has been a consistent name in Australia's white-ball plans and could comfortably step in if Marsh is unavailable.

Who Could Make the Squad?

Australian players whose IPL franchises are out of the playoff race — or who are not part of the playoff cluster — are likely to be available. The list of probables includes:

• Mitch Marsh (LSG) — likely captain
• Josh Inglis (LSG) — vice-captain candidate
• Cameron Green (KKR) — fitness and workload permitting
• Alex Carey — 50-over mainstay, expected to feature
• Adam Zampa — fresh off PSL stint, primary spinner
• Marnus Labuschagne — also returning from PSL
• Nathan Ellis — back to bowling after the hamstring injury that ruled him out of the IPL
• Matthew Renshaw — strong contender after his impressive ODI debut series against India

Players from franchises still in the playoff hunt — such as Cooper Connolly, Xavier Bartlett, Ben Dwarshuis (Punjab Kings) and Matthew Short (Chennai Super Kings) — could potentially link up with the Australian side later in the tour, possibly joining the Bangladesh leg that follows from June 9.

The Bigger Picture: A Tough Balancing Act

This is not a one-off problem. The IPL has, for years now, sat in a complicated position on the global cricket calendar — a tournament so commercially significant and so important to player earnings that national boards routinely have to dance around it. Cricket Australia, perhaps more than most, has long taken a flexible approach. They have repeatedly allowed senior players to fulfil IPL contracts even when bilateral commitments loom on the horizon.

The trade-off is obvious: Australia's full-strength ODI XI will not be on the park in Pakistan, which weakens the contest and disappoints fans who haven't seen the marquee Aussies in 50-over action on Pakistani soil since 2022. But Cricket Australia clearly believes the long-term goodwill it builds with players, franchises, and the BCCI by not forcing a tug-of-war is worth more than three ODIs in late May.

What This Means for Pakistan

For Pakistan, the news is bittersweet. Hosting Australia for a full bilateral series for the first time since the 2022 tour is a significant moment for cricket in the country, particularly given how rare top-tier visiting nations have become. Crowds in Rawalpindi and Lahore were always going to be passionate. But facing an Australian side missing Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, Head and Green inevitably takes some of the lustre off the contest.

That said, Pakistan have their own preparation goals. Coming off a disappointing 2-1 ODI series defeat in Bangladesh, and with an away Test assignment in Bangladesh also lined up after the PSL, this series gives them a chance to test combinations against a still-quality Australian unit ahead of next year's ODI World Cup.

Australia's Schedule Beyond Pakistan

Once the Pakistan series wraps up on June 4, Australia will travel directly to Bangladesh for an ODI and T20I tour starting June 9. That second leg may see some of the Australians who finished IPL playoff campaigns — depending on how late their franchises stay alive — join the squad for the white-ball assignments. After that, the focus shifts to the bigger tours later in the year, including the Zimbabwe and South Africa engagements where Cummins is expected to return to the ODI side.

The Verdict

For Australian fans who have grown used to seeing their team take the field with their first-choice XI, the Pakistan ODI series will require a recalibration of expectations. For IPL franchises with Australian stars in their ranks, the news is a quiet relief — no mid-playoff scrambles, no last-minute captaincy changes, no awkward workload conversations. And for the BCCI, it is yet another reminder of just how central the IPL has become to the global cricketing ecosystem.

The Pakistan tour will go ahead. The crowds will turn up. The cricket will be played. But the Australia that lands in Islamabad on May 23 will be one without some of its biggest names — by design, not accident. In modern cricket's tangled web of priorities, that has quietly become the new normal.