Maxwell Opens Up On Al Jazeera Sting Operation Match Fixing Claims

Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell has recently expressed his disappointment over the indirect allegations on him regarding the spot-fixing made by the Al Jazeera sting operation.

Cricket news: Maxwell expressed that he was hurt and shocked regarding the allegations

The sting operation had stated that some Australian players had been allegedly involved in match-fixing during the 2017 Ranchi Test against India.

Although there was no direct allegation made, but the blurred images and the timeframe indirectly indicated the all-rounder’s involvement in the fixing.

While giving an interview to the SEN Radio, Maxwell said that he was deeply ‘hurt’ to know that his maiden century in Tests has now been marred with fixing allegations.

“I was shocked. I was a bit hurt by it as well,” he said. “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% unfair, to tarnish one of the best moments of my career was pretty brutal. The only thing they could have done worse was tarnish that [2015] World Cup win. They’re two of the best moments of my career. To say I’d done anything untoward in that game, when I’d just finally got back in the Test side – I’d worked my absolute backside off – to say I’d do anything to ruin that would be absolutely ridiculous.”

Maxwell further cleared his stance by saying that whenever he feels something fishy, he always reports them to anti-corruption officials. He also added that he had sensed slightly different things while captaining Kings XI Punjab in 2017.

“I’ve been very honest with them [anti-corruption officers] the whole way through with the IPL,” he 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.

“If there’s anything slightly amiss, I always give them a call and make sure they have every bit of evidence they can possibly have. There’s some things you see in the game of cricket where you’re always just a little bit unsure. All the things you do hear in the game, and when it comes out later on you go, ‘Oh, I swear I could have noticed that while I was watching it’.

“It was probably easier when I was captain and I was able to see the way the game was going, and the instructions that I was giving players, and the way the game was moving, I could actually work it out a little better. There wasn’t really anything untoward in the season I was captain, but you could certainly tell from opposition stuff and that’s why I reported certain things,” Maxwell said.