Resurgent Australia batter Peter Handscomb has praised the resilience of Pat Cummins after the "incredible" captain opted to stay in Sydney to be with his seriously ill mother.
Cummins will miss Australia's third Test against India in Indore, starting on Wednesday, due to his ongoing family situation.
The 29-year-old on Friday confirmed he wanted to support his mother, who is in palliative care, instead of returning to India.
Steve Smith, Australia's captain between 2015 and 2018, will fill in as skipper until Cummins is ready to play again.
"It's pretty understandable that Pat's gone home and it's always going to be family first - that's a good mentality around this group," Handscomb said in Delhi on Sunday.
"There's a lot of empathy going towards Pat, and the boys have been sending messages and wishing him and his family lots of love and support."
Cummins, who was this week dethroned by star England veteran James Anderson as the world's No.1 ranked Test bowler, suffered some criticism for his bowling and captaincy during the first two matches.
The star quick also played a rash slog sweep to be bowled first ball during Australia's calamitous second innings collapse in Delhi.
Cummins was understandably hesitant to release any information about his family life but decided on Friday to reveal the extent of his mother's health battle.
There is recent precedence for Australian players pushing on amid personal heartache and not performing to their usual world-class standards.
Fellow star quick Mitchell Starc was dealing with his father's declining health during Australia's 2020-21 home series against India, but played all four Tests.
Starc wanted details of his family situation to remain private during that series, even when he was coming under intense criticism for under-par performances.
Starc's father Paul died about a month after Australia lost the final Test of that classic series at the Gabba.
Handscomb can empathise with Cummins and Starc's plight after losing his own father in 2015.
"To be able to sort of put that to one side while he's (Cummins) out captaining his country and trying to win Test matches is a pretty incredible effort," Handscomb said.
"I think that speaks volumes about his character and why he's been such an incredible captain for us.
"What he's been doing is pretty special.
"But it's good that he's home with his family and having that time."
Australia will attempt to win just their second Test on Indian soil since 2004 without Cummins and veteran opener David Warner, who has been ruled out of the rest of the series due to a broken elbow.
But Australia will almost certainly regain Starc and allrounder Cameron Green for the third Test, with the pair having both recovered from broken fingers suffered in December.
Starc and Green have bowled at full pace in the nets in recent days and their inclusions will ensure Australia have a more balanced XI than in the first two Tests.
"It's going to be a big loss, not having those two," Handscomb said of Cummins and Warner.
"But also Mitch Starc is coming back from injury, 'Greeny' is coming back from injury so we've got a couple of big ins potentially and that's the exciting part as well."
After almost two weeks in Delhi, Australia will fly to Indore on Sunday to prepare for the third Test.
