Australia Test captain Pat Cummins is set to respond to Usman Khawaja‘s allegations about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, saying he needed time to understand the claims made in the former opener’s autobiography before addressing them.Khawaja’s book, ‘Sabr’, released on Tuesday, has brought the controversy surrounding the Cape Town Test against South Africa in 2018 back into focus. In the book, Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian team knew about the plan to use sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball.He also alleged that then captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft were made scapegoats by cricket administrators despite other members of the team allegedly knowing about the plan.Cummins said he would address the media on Friday at Cricket Central, where he is scheduled to train ahead of New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield match.“I’m training at Cricket Central tomorrow morning before the Blues play in the Shield match,” Cummins wrote on ‘X’.“Happy to speak with any and all media about the events of this week at 9.30 am. I’ve taken some time to try and better understand the long list and full extent of Uzzy’s allegations so I can respond properly.”
Khawaja, meanwhile, has withdrawn from interviews to promote his autobiography after facing criticism over his television interview on Tuesday evening. During the interview, he struggled to address questions about the allegations, including whether Australia’s four frontline bowlers, Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, were involved in discussions about ball-tampering.He was also directly asked whether Cummins knew about the plan to use sandpaper in advance. Khawaja declined to answer, saying he had only shared his “truth” in the book.Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has also questioned Cummins’ silence on the matter, saying the team needs to establish what happened during the 2018 Test.Speaking on 2DayFM’s Breakfast with Nath & Emma, Clarke expressed surprise that the current Australia captain had not yet addressed the allegations publicly.“I can’t believe we haven’t heard from Pat Cummins yet, the Australian captain,” Clarke said.Clarke also pointed to the impact of the 2018 scandal on Australian cricket’s leadership, suggesting that Cummins might not have become captain had Smith not been removed from the role following the incident.
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