Pat Cummins has put the LA 2028 Olympics on his wishlist when cricket marks its return

There will be plenty of cricketers on the wrong side of 30 looking to hold on for the 2028 Olympics and the Australian Test captain is among them.

A zoned-in focus on rest after going “non-stop for about two years” is crucial to Test captain Pat Cummins’ plan to get through all five matches against India this summer, but it’s the exact approach that could also help get him to the 2028 Olympics.

As he closed the door on any likelihood of playing Big Bash at the back end of this season, and said his workload would always be geared around playing as much Test cricket as possible, the 31-year-old said it would be “awesome” to play for Australia in four years’ time having soaked up the recent Games in Paris.

Cummins, whose birthday is in May, which would make him 35 when the LA Olympics come around, is moderating his workload for the now but started smiling when asked about potentially adding a gold medal to a cricketing resume that has every possible trophy already on it.

“That would be pretty awesome. After seeing Paris the last few weeks I’ve started to get pretty excited about potentially going,” he said in Sydney on Monday.

“It hasn’t really been on any or our radars. Four years away, anything can happen, you never quite know.

“But that would be awesome to represent Australia in the middle of an Olympics, it’s something special.”

Pat Cummins is excited about the potential of going to the 2028 Olympics. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images for Cricket Australia

Cummins is skipping an upcoming white-ball tour of the UK as part of a pre-planned resting period in what has been a rare long stint without having played any Tests.

His last effort in a baggy green was in New Zealand in March, and he doesn’t expect to bowl a ball in a game until turning out for NSW, more likely in a one-day game, before playing a November ODI series against Pakistan.

He defended a decision to go and play in the Major League Cricket T20 competition in the US during his “break”, adamant the short, seven-match outing didn’t impact his plans.

But he reiterated his priority would always be representing Australia, and playing Test cricket, which is why he’s set to “smash out” sone gym work over the next month before getting his bowling reps going again.

“This was an interesting year in terms of the gap leading into the summer and so the break was pre-planned,” he said.

“The MLC popped up late and when we were working through the schedule it didn’t change any of the prep leading into the summer. It was a nice little gap which isn’t always going to be the case, and there will be other years where international cricket clashes and that takes priority.

“That was the reason behind the break. There aren’t many breaks in the calendar unless you kind of manufacture one, so medical staff, coaches and everyone thought it was a good opportunity to have a month off bowling for my body and then build up, hopefully be in as good a position as I can be for five Tests.”

That workload, and a Sri Lankan Test series in February, rules out any chance of Cummins playing in the BBL for the Sydney Thunder and could preclude any of his Test teammates also turning out despite officials being hopeful they could be a presence at the back-end of the tournament.

“I think it’s going to be tough,” he said.

“We’ve go the five Tests then straight into the Sri Lanka tour, about a week-and-a-half after the last Test we’ll fly off, so I think it might be tough.”