Australian fast-bowling star Mitchell Starc has vehemently denied his ex-teammate Usman Khawaja’s claim that the entire team had the prior knowledge of the ball-tampering plan that rocked Australian cricket during the 2018 Cape Town Test.
At the same time, the left-arm pacer expressed his disappointment over comments made about him in Usman Khawaja’s recently discussed autobiography. The infamous Sandpapergate scandal took place during Australia's Test tour of South Africa in 2018, prompting Cricket Australia to launch an investigation. Notably, in 2021, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon released a joint statement denying having any prior knowledge or involvement.
Following the investigation, CA had concluded that only Cameron Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were aware of the plan. Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for one year from competitive cricket, while Cameron Bancroft was handed a nine-month suspension.
“I haven’t really paid much attention to it to be fair,” Starc said while speaking to reporters.
“Obviously, there’s differing opinions of eight years ago. Yeah, we were heavily grilled through the process at the time, since. And now - I guess I won’t speak on behalf of the bowlers - but, where I stand, my opinion hasn’t changed, my recollection hasn’t changed from what we said in 2021.”
When pressed further on whether the entire team was aware of the plan, Starc outrightly rejected the claims.
"That's obviously in a book. That's for someone to explain further. As far as our statement said, we weren't aware of things being taken onto the field. We saw it on the big screen in Cape Town.
"As I said before, I'll stick to what I said five years ago, what I said at the time, eight years ago. Clearly, there's different versions from different people, and I'll leave it where I left it back then."