Pat Cummins said Usman Khawaja remained his friend during a compelling, no holds barred 69-minute press conference on Friday.
But Australia’s Test captain was completely blindsided, and felt betrayed, by Khawaja’s “casual and flippant” ball tampering allegations in his autobiography.
Usman Khawaja with Pat Cummins in 2018. Getty Images
“I don’t think that’s OK and I don’t think that’s what friends do,” Cummins said.
A fractured friendship, then, at the very least.
“He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense,” Cummins said.
“That’s not the Usman that I know. It’s not the Usman that I think that has been part of a team that’s helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years… Usman’s a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations.”
It is a sad development between two of the more interesting people in Australian cricket.
Cummins said Khawaja had never asked him what he knew or didn’t regarding Sandpapergate before releasing his explosive book Sabr.
Khawaja did, however, give his former skipper a heads-up that he would be tackling the thorny subject in a chapter.
“I think he mentioned that it just hasn’t sat well with him for a long time,” Cummins said.
“And I think that’s, you know, three people (David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft) got sanctioned and the environment at the time was win at all costs. There was an ugliness to it, I think. So, perhaps there’s some guilt maybe from how the team was.”
He had exchanged text messages with his teammate afterwards this week but did not want to divulge the details of what was said.
Unlike most strained friendships, Cummins and Khawaja’s is set to be examined in public this summer given the latter’s job with Fox Cricket.
Pat Cummins at his press conference on Friday. Getty Images
Cummins said the team was “very professional” and he didn’t foresee any issues in interacting with him.
Khawaja also took a shot at Josh Hazlewood in the book.
“One of the bowlers (Hazlewood) went on The Back Page TV show and was asked point blank if he’d known anything about the ball tampering,” he wrote.
“He flat out denied it. David was seething, and understandably so. I remember him texting me and sending the clip. If you aren’t willing to tell the whole story, just stay quiet.
“I didn’t mind the guys staying quiet. Hell, I was doing the same thing. But to come out and say that on live TV really pissed me off.”
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