Cummins has played only one competitive match – the third Ashes Test in December – since he first experienced symptoms in his back last July. He had initially hoped to play in the T20 World Cup but was ruled out after what he described as a “minor setback” in his recovery and will miss the start of Sunrisers Hyderabad’s season, with Ishan Kishan set to deputise as captain.

Cummins has arrived in India and did light sprints at warm-ups at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, before bowling casually into an empty net. He told the Business of Sport podcast that his best-case scenario will be a return to full fitness for the second half of the IPL and the knockout stages in late May.

“I’m still recovering from a back injury, but it’s good. I’m back bowling in the nets,” Cummins said, in an episode recorded late last week. “The IPL is starting soon. I won’t make the start of that, but it shouldn’t be too long before I’m back out there playing.

“I’m back bowling. I’m bowling basically every third day at the moment. We’ve mapped out a plan to get me right by [the] middle of the tournament, so hopefully, if nothing goes wrong, [I’ll] play the back half plus the finals.”

Cummins also backed Kishan to make a success of the captaincy early in the season after his recent experience with Jharkhand, whom he led to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in December.

“Ishan’s had a really successful captaincy stint with his local side in the last year or so,” Cummins said, adding that he leans on senior Indian team-mates to overcome the language barrier with some domestic players.

“Those guys, you’re leaning on anyway. We’ve got quite an experienced bowling group of local guys, so a few of the younger guys that come through that I don’t know as well, particularly early on in a season, I’m definitely leaning on the local guys who do know them well – or even speak the language.

“Most of the guys speak really great English, but some of them don’t, and there are local dialects, so that can be a little bit of a barrier for an international captain.”

Sunrisers, who have not won the IPL since 2016, start their season against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday.