Australia unlikely to play full-strength team against Scotland, hints Pat Cummins as Aussies plan to eliminate England

Australia captain Pat Cummins has hinted that a few key players could be rested for their last group game of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The reigning Test and ODI world champions have already booked their spot in the Super 8s by winning their first three games and the upcoming game against Scotland would have absolutely no impact on their standing in the group.

However, they are already under the scanner after Josh Hazlewood's recent remarks where he admitted that Australia would not shy away from doing something that would ensure England's exit from the T20 World Cup. England and Scotland are currently fighting it out for the remaining one Super 8s spot from Group B.

England, on Friday, thrashed Oman by eight wickets and went past Scotland's net run-rate. A win in their final group game against Namibia would be enough for England to go through if Scotland do not stun Australia. Pat Cummins has insisted that Australia would not be manipulating the game to knock England out of the competition but has hinted that they are unlikely to field a full-strength team for the game against Scotland.

Australia likely to make changes to their winning combination:

With their place in the Super 8s sealed, Australia could make a number of changes to their playing eleven. The likes of Cameron Green, Josh Inglis, and Ashton Agar are yet to play a game in the tournament and could find a spot in the playing eleven for the game against Scotland.

"I haven't spoken to the selectors or anyone, so I don't know what they're thinking," Cummins said."But I wouldn't be surprised. I know going into the start of the tournament, in a perfect world, we'd get a game into just about all the squad members."

"It's a bit of a luxury now in this first section of the tournament but once we get to the Super Eights don't think they'll be any resting. Definitely [can play all the games], we are used to playing Test cricket so four overs is a breeze.

There's no workload issues at all. You start prioritising sleep, refuelling and those kind of things but in terms of getting up for the game, it's fine. We've done it loads of times, loads of IPL games are kind of play, fly to the other side of the country and play again. Same with BBL. It's not necessarily new. It will be busy but we are kind of used to it," he added.

Australia are scheduled to take on Scotland on Saturday (June 15).