One of the big strengths at the start of the season for Mumbai Indians was their fast bowling unit and the presence of Pat Cummins contributed to its well-roundedness immensely. 

In what comes as the big blow for the franchise, the 24-year-old Cummins has been ruled out of the IPL season because of a back injury. Cummins was going through a very heavy workload recently, he featured in 13 consecutive tests for Australia in last one year. The body had to give up at some stage and it has now. 

Cummins is the third casualty from the highly taxing Test series in South Africa that just concluded with fellow quicks, Mitchell Starc and Kagiso Rabada already ruled out from the league. 

David Beakley, Australia's physiotherapist, has said that the pacer experienced back issues in the last week of the tour recently and could also miss out on Australia's limited-overs series against England in June.

In an official statement, he said, "Pat experienced some back soreness during the fourth Test in South Africa, 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."

Cummins was the stand out fast bowler across the test series for Australia picking 22 wickets at an average of just 21 and they would want him to be back as soon as possible. Especially as the Test tour of UAE awaits in October against Pakistan.