The mass exodus of Australian players from the Indian Premier League continues as Pat Cummins becomes the fourth Australian to miss out on IPL after David Warner, Steve Smith, Jason Behrendorff and Mitchell Starc. According to Cricket Australia, he is suffering from a sore back.

The pace-bowling all-rounder was a star buy for the Indians but will now have to watch the tournament from the TV. It was sort of expected, however, as Cummins had been playing relentlessly over the last year – playing 13 consecutive Tests – and became the third casualty from the South Africa series after Mitchell Starc and Kagiso Rabada.

Australia’s physiotherapist, meanwhile, stated that the extent of Cummins’ back issues could make him miss Australia’s tour of England, which is scheduled for June.

"Pat experienced some back soreness during the fourth Test in South Africa," David Beakley, Australia physiotherapist, said in a statement on Tuesday (April 10).

"Follow-up scans have confirmed that he has bone oedema in his vertebrae. It is important that Pat has time off bowling, to prevent the injury becoming more serious and consequently we have made the decision to rule Pat out of the IPL.

"Pat will now undergo a period of recovery and rehabilitation and we will look to re-scan him in a few weeks to assess the healing. Following this we will be in a better position to decide on Pat's return to play timeline including participation in the limited overs tour of the UK."

Pat Cummins has been a player suffering from injuries ever since his debut in 2011. It is for this reason that Cricket Australia have been careful with him. He has had a relatively injury-free time over the last year, which is why he could bowl a grueling 447.5 overs in all formats since the commencement of the Australian summer.

Mumbai will now need to replace the Aussie star who took 22 wickets in South Africa at an average of 21.