A sting operation done by Al Jazeera had earlier claimed that the India-Australia Test match in Ranchi had certain elements fixed and that some Australian players were involved in carrying out the plans.
Although the tapes did not actually name the players, it became pretty evident to Cricket Australia that the player under the scanner was Glenn Maxwell, who incidentally slammed his first Test century in that match.
The all-rounder has finally reacted and said that all this has hurt him and taken the sheen away from one of his most momentous moments in cricket.
“I was shocked. I was a bit hurt by it as well,” Maxwell told SEN Radio.
“To have these allegations about your involvement in a game where you’ve only got happy memories about it, great memories. I still remember the feeling after hugging Steve Smith after getting my maiden Test hundred.”
“To have that tarnished by these allegations was pretty devastating and obviously there’s absolutely no truth to it whatsoever. It was 100 percent unfair, to tarnish one of the best moments of my career was pretty brutal,” he further added.
Maxwell also said that although his name was not mentioned, the tapes showed a specific type of kit and gear which was being used and this left no doubt that he was the person who was being put under the lens.
“They didn’t mention any specific names but did basically say the time of the game, which was my involvement. You could see it was the gear that I was using, and there wasn’t anyone else using that gear in that game. That was certainly very hard to take,” the all-rounder said.
The Victorian also said that he has always made sure to report any untoward activity on the field to authorities as and when it happens and that he has seen few flip-flops happening in overseas T20 tournaments, but has always been vigilant enough to report it.
“I’ve been very honest with them [anti-corruption officers] the whole way through with the IPL,” Maxwell said.
“If I’ve ever seen anything untoward I always sat down with them, had a long coffee and just talked about everything to make sure nothing ever, ever comes back to me,” he pointed out.
