Pat Cummins and Becky street argument after Usman Khawaja Sandpaper-gate comments, Digi Mart USA News (Sydney, Australia): Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has been spotted in what appeared to be a street-side argument with his wife, Becky, in his first public sighting since Usman Khawaja’s explosive “Sandpaper-gate” comments. The footage, captured by The Australian on Wednesday, shows the pair in an animated conversation on a Sydney street.
Cummins, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, appeared to take a passive role in the debate before he and his wife retreated into a property. The Test skipper has been rested from Australia’s two white-ball series against England ahead of four Tests against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand.
The sighting follows Khawaja’s recent claims that the entire dressing room was aware of a ball-tampering plot during the side’s 2018 Test series in South Africa. His comments were quickly backed by long-time friend and former opening partner David Warner.
The claims align with the release of Khawaja’s autobiography, Sabr, published on Tuesday, which outlines his version of events that led to lengthy sanctions imposed by Cricket Australia on Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
Ahead of Australia’s most recent series in South Africa, Cummins was asked by reporters whether he was concerned about Khawaja offering details that contradicted findings from an official investigation at the time. “It’s obviously a long time ago.
All the investigations, everything was done back then. Answered every question a million times,” Cummins said.
“It was dealt with then. All I can say is, as a group, we’ve moved on.
Very happy with the last eight or nine years, how we’ve been as a group and evolved. He didn’t go into too much detail…
As always it was ‘no worries, you can tell your story, that’s fine.'”
On Wednesday, Khawaja cancelled any remaining media commitments surrounding his book after a grilling on ABC’s 7.30 program. During the appearance, he was asked whether he was “pissed off” over the bowlers’ refusal to admit they were aware of efforts to rough up the ball with sandpaper.
“I’ll say again, I’ve given my statement about what happened the game before,” Khawaja said. “I was very open and honest to what I saw and what conversations I had.
“Sometimes I’m very specific on things, and sometimes I’m a bit vague on things, and I do it on purpose because I’m trying to tell a story.” Pressed again on the involvement of the team’s then-bowling line-up, Khawaja declined to elaborate. “I’m just not going… I’m not going to entertain that,” he said.
“I’m not going to really speak on any more of it at this moment.”
