Khawaja denies throwing ‘anyone under the bus’ with comments about ball-tampering scandal
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
Nov 8 : Usman Khawaja on Sunday denied that he had “thrown anyone under the bus”, a day after an excerpt from the former Australian cricketer’s autobiography claimed the entire team had been aware of ball-tampering during a 2018 tour of South Africa.
The scandal, dubbed “Sandpapergate” over Australia’s scuffing of the ball with sandpaper in the March 2018 test in Cape Town, sparked a major integrity crisis for Cricket Australia.
However, only captain Steve Smith and batsmen David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who was caught with the sandpaper in his pocket, were banned for their part in the scandal.
In a video posted on Instagram, Khawaja, who released the excerpt of his autobiography on Saturday, said he had wanted to “come clean” about the incident since 2018.
Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time
Buzzword
Create words using the given letters
Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser
Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge
Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
“I haven’t thrown anyone under the bus,” added the 39-year-old, who retired from international cricket in January.
“The guys that are currently in the team right now and the other people that were there on the South African tour, including me, we’re not the victims.
“These three guys (Bancroft, Warner and Smith) took the blame for all of us, and they’re the victims.”
Khawaja said he had spoken with the three players involved in “Sandpapergate”, and that he had promised Warner he would share his side of the story.
“These three guys deserve justice. And I haven’t pointed fingers at anyone,” he added.
“I’m still searching for what I was searching all those years ago for us — me included — to take the blame together as a team so we can all move on from this once and for all.”
Australia’s test side returned to South Africa for the first time since 2018 last month and were beaten 2-1 by the hosts in the three-match series, which was overshadowed in part by discussions of the scandal and the upcoming release of Khawaja’s book.
Source: Reuters
Sign up for our newsletters
Get the CNA app
Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories
Get WhatsApp alerts
Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
