Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has reportedly been spotted having an animated conversation with his wife, Becky, on a Sydney street. The sighting marks his first public appearance since former Australia batter Usman Khawaja made fresh claims about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, popularly known as Sandpaper-gate.

According to footage published by The Australian on Wednesday, Cummins and Becky appeared to be involved in a tense discussion while walking along a street in Sydney.

Dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, the Australian skipper appeared to take a relatively passive role during the conversation. The couple were later seen entering a nearby property.

However, there is no confirmed link between the couple’s conversation and the recent controversy surrounding Khawaja’s claims.

His public appearance comes at a time when Australian cricket has once again found itself discussing the events of the 2018 South Africa tour.

Khawaja recently claimed that the entire Australian dressing room was aware of the ball-tampering plan during the series.
His comments have brought renewed attention to one of the biggest controversies in Australian cricket.

Former Australia opener David Warner, who was also involved in the 2018 scandal, reportedly supported Khawaja’s comments.

The claims also feature in Khawaja’s autobiography, Sabr, which was released on Tuesday.
The book presents his account of the events that led to Cricket Australia’s suspensions of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

The Australian captain said the matter had already been investigated and that the team had moved on.

“It’s obviously a long time ago. All the investigations, everything was done back then. Answered every question a million times,” Cummins said.

He also insisted that the Australian team had evolved since the controversy.

“It was dealt with then, all I can say is as a group we’ve moved on. Very happy with the last eight or nine years, how we’ve been as a group and evolved. He didn’t go into too much detail … As always it was ‘no worries, you can tell your story, that’s fine’,” he added.

Khawaja maintained that he had already shared his account of what he witnessed during the series.

“I’ll say again, I’ve given my statement about what happened the game before. I was very open and honest to what I saw and what conversations I had,” he said.

He also explained why some parts of his account were more specific than others.

“Sometimes I’m very specific on things, and sometimes I’m a bit vague on things, and I do it on purpose because I’m trying to tell a story,” Khawaja added.

When pressed further about the involvement of Australia’s bowling attack at the time, the former opener refused to elaborate.

“I’m just not going … I’m not going to entertain that,” he said. “I’m not going to really speak on any more of it at this moment.”

Khawaja subsequently cancelled his remaining media commitments related to Sabr. His comments have once again put the 2018 Sandpaper-gate controversy under the spotlight, with questions continuing to emerge about what members of the Australian team knew at the time.