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Australian pace veteran Mitchell Starc broke his silence on former batter Usman Khawaja's recent explosive revelations about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, saying that he "has not paid much attention to it" and that his recollection has not changed from what it was in 2021, when the Aussie bowling quartet had issued a joint statement about not being aware of a foreign object being used to alter the ball's condition.
The 'Sandpapergate' scandal refers to ball-tampering by Australia during the third Test against South Africa at Cape Town, for which then-captain vice-captain Steve Smith and David Warner received one-year competitive cricket bans, while Cameron Bancroft was also handed sanctions, including a nine-month international/domestic cricket ban. Ahead of the release of his autobiography 'Sabr', Khawaja had claimed that the entire Australian team, including players and support staff, was involved in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal during the South Africa tour. He said the responsibility was collective, contrary to Cricket Australia's findings that implicated only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Khawaja stressed that he had expected the truth to emerge over the past eight years and spoke out to ensure the three players were not left carrying the blame alone. In his autobiography, not only did Khawaja call for the entire Aussie locker room to take collective responsibility for the incident, but he also said that Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were not the sole people with knowledge of sandpaper use and the team had, in fact, used the sandpaper back in the second Test in Gqeberha before getting caught at Cape Town during the third Test. Speaking about these explosive revelations to the media at an event on Tuesday, Starc said, as quoted by Fox Sports, "I have not really paid much attention, to be fair, he said. Obviously there is differing opinions of eight years ago. We were heavily drilled through the process at the time and since - and I guess I would not speak on behalf of the bowlers - but where I stand, my opinion has not changed.My recollection has not changed from what we said in 2021," he added. On the ball-tampering in the Gqeberha Test as revealed by Khawaja, Starc said, "Yeah, that is the first I was aware of any of that taking place in PE (Port Elizabeth). I will leave that for said authors to explain. "As our statement said, we were not aware of things being taken on the field; that is where I will leave it," he signed off. (ANI)
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