Australia captain Pat Cummins spotted in heated conversation with wife Becky in first public appearance since Khawaja’s Sandpaper statement

NEW DELHI: Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins was spotted having a seemingly passionate conversation with his wife Becky on a street in Sydney.The incident is his first public appearance since former Australian batsman Usman Khawaja made fresh claims about the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal, also known as ‘Sandpaper-gate’.According to shots published by The Australian on Wednesday, Cummins and Becky were seen having a lively discussion before heading to a nearby property.Dressed casually in a T-shirt and shorts, Cummins appeared to remain relatively quiet during the exchange.The Australian captain is currently resting from the two white-ball series against England and preparing for the upcoming four Test matches against New Zealand.

The new claims bring the Sandpaper scandal back into the spotlight

The incident comes amid renewed controversy after Khawaja claimed the entire Australian dressing room knew about a plan to tamper with the ball during the 2018 Test series in South Africa. Former opener David Warner, who was also involved in the scandal, supported Khawaja’s claims.In his autobiography Sabr, released on Tuesday, Khawaja shared his account of the events that led to Cricket Australia suspending Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.When asked about the possibility of Khawaja revealing details that differed from the results of the official investigation, Cummins previously said:“It’s obviously a long time ago. All the investigations, everything was done back then. I’ve answered every question a million times,” Cummins said.“It was dealt with then, I can just say we’ve moved on as a group. Very happy with how we’ve been as a group over the last eight or nine years and how we’ve evolved. He didn’t go into too much detail… As always, it was ‘no worries, you can tell your story, that’s fine’.”

Khawaja refuses to divulge more details

Khawaja has since canceled his remaining media appearances for the book after facing tough questions on ABC’s 7.30. During the interview, he was asked if it bothered him that the pitchers did not admit they knew about the plan to rough up the ball with sandpaper.“I say again that I have commented on what happened in the game before,” Khawaja said.“I’ve been very open and honest about what I’ve seen and what conversations I’ve had. Sometimes I’m very specific about things and sometimes I’m a little vague about things and I do that on purpose because I’m trying to tell a story.”He declined to comment on another question about the participation of the bowlers.“I’m just not going to … I’m not going to entertain it,” Khawaja said. “I’m not really going to talk about it at this point.