Australian captain Pat Cummins is back at bowling as he prepares for the IPL and WTC Final build-up.

Pat Cummins was out of Sri Lanka tour and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 due to ankle injury, which he picked up during the high-octane Border-Gavaskar Trophy but told ESPNcricinfo on Wednesday that he was heading for the first bowl of his rehab.

"The ankle is all going strong, [have been] able to give it a good rest and then been building up slowly, which you don't get to do when you play lots of cricket," Cummins said. "It's feeling as strong as it has for a fair while. Should be fine [for the IPL], that's the plan. So have a few weeks of bowling, building back up and then hopefully don't have to worry about it for a while."

"It's something that we've opted never to have surgery on or intervene too much, just a lot to rehab," he explained. "Having this break meant that I could get a couple of cortisones and really rehab it well the last couple of weeks."

"Sometimes by missing the odd tour, you actually end up playing more cricket for the whole year," he said. "I think in the past you used to play everything, whereas now, absolutely, you try and make sure the players are at their peak for as long as you can for the year and to play as much of the important stuff each year. It's just the way of the world. Everyone's used to it."