Pat Cummins ruled out of rest of IPL 2022 with hip injury

Kolkata Knight Riders have been dealt a major blow ahead of their last two games of the group stages as Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the rest of the ongoing IPL season with a hip injury. 

Cummins, after being a regular starter for the side in the first half of the season, was dropped mid-April after poor showings with the ball, but the 29-year-old made a sizzling return in the Knights' last encounter against Mumbai Indians, taking 3/22 with the ball. Versus MI, the Knight Riders fielded both Cummins and Southee, but the Australian Test skipper's injury has now thrown a spanner in KKR's works ahead of their clashes against Sunrisers and Lucknow.

According to the CA website, however, Cummins' recovery is only expected to take a fortnight. The pacer had apparently been managing the niggle through the IPL, but, as a precaution, will now be heading back to Sydney to recover completely. Cummins' next assignment for the national team is the tour of Sri Lanka. 

Cummins represented the Knight Riders in five matches this season, and enjoyed a mixed time. He played significant hands in the team's twin victories over Mumbai Indians — scoring the joint-fastest IPL fifty in the first, and taking a three-fer in the second — but struggled majorly barring those two encounters. In particular, it was a struggle with the ball in hand for the Aussie Test skipper, who will head back home having registered a bowling average of 30.28 and an economy of 10.68 in the season.