Australia suffers major injury setback in Champions Trophy; three superstars including captain Pat Cummins unlikely to play

MELBOURNE: With just days left for the start of the ICC Champions Trophy tournament, world champions Australia have suffered a setback. It is reported that injured captain Pat Cummins may not play in the Champions Trophy. This was announced by the team's head coach Andrew McDonald. The absence of their captain is a big setback for Australia, one of the teams that is expected to win the title. Another injured pacer Josh Hazlewood is also unlikely to play in the Champions Trophy.

'“Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to resume any type of bowling so he’s heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain,”' McDonald said. "Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we've been having conversations with while we've been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat (Cummins) back home. They'll be the two that we look at for that leadership post," the Australian coach said.

Cummins' leg injury came after the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Cummins did not play the Test series against Sri Lanka because of this. Mitchell Marsh, who has a back injury, will also not be able to play the Champions Trophy. As far as Australian cricket is concerned, Cummins is the captain who won the World Cup and the World Test Championship for the country. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy was also won back after ten years under the captaincy of the star player. Fans were hoping that their captain would once again bring the Champions Trophy to the Aussie cabinet.