Cummins' Sheffield Shield Plans to Prep for Crucial Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australian skipper Pat Cummins aims to participate in the Sheffield Shield to gear up for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India. With crucial matches ahead, Cummins will focus on strength and conditioning while playing selective games to prepare for the high-stakes series.

Australian skipper Pat Cummins is set to utilize the Sheffield Shield tournament as a crucial warm-up for the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India later this year. The highly-anticipated series will commence with a day Test at Perth Stadium from November 22 to November 26. India has clinched victory in their last two series on Australian soil, in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Having recently participated in the Major League Cricket (MLC) with the San Francisco Unicorns, Cummins will skip Australia's white-ball series in Scotland and England next month. Instead, he will focus on rest, strength, and conditioning in preparation for a busy home series against India, which also includes two Tests in Sri Lanka. These seven Tests could be decisive in Australia's quest to defend their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) title where they currently stand second behind India.

Cummins last featured in a Sheffield Shield game for New South Wales in February 2021 and has only played nine matches in the tournament throughout his career. An ODI series against Pakistan in early November may also be on the cards for him to build up match fitness ahead of the crucial Tests against India and Sri Lanka. "Coach Andrew McDonald and I have discussed this extensively," Cummins told News Corp, as reported by ESPNCricinfo. "I plan to play either two or three ODIs, along with some Sheffield Shield games or New South Wales one-day matches around late October and early November." NSW's Shield fixtures against Victoria start on October 20, and they face Queensland from November 1, overlapping with the ODI series against Pakistan. (ANI)