Former Australia Test captain Tim Paine on Tuesday made shocking claims that a newly hired public relations consultant is the reason behind his resignation from his captaincy and that Cricket Australia "abandoned" him, according to media reports.

The batter whose sexting scandal went viral last November criticised Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley for taking a "back seat" but didn't reveal the name of the PR professional for calling shots, according to media reports.

His autobiography 'The Prince Paid' reveals details about his resignment such as how he did not get any "support" from the team and that the Cricket Australia board wanted him to leave.

"It was becoming obvious what Cricket Australia wanted me to do but they didn’t have the courage to say it themselves, they were letting their hired consultant run the show. They’d held a gun to my head. I couldn’t go on without their support," Paine wrote, according to media reports.

"I was disappointed and I was tired of this. I was prepared to cop the flak for what I did, but in my mind Cricket Australia had abandoned me and made it look like they thought I’d sexually harassed someone and so everyone else would think that too. I felt like them flipping almost vindicated the story," he added.

Paine also revealed that several years ago, an investigation was conducted by Cricket Australia with the the Tasmanian cricket employee and they found no wrongdoing. However, there was lack of support from the board when the story became public.

"We did a phone link which included this person they’d hired from a public relations firm who’d apparently given advice to the board in the past. I found it very strange that this person, someone I’d never met and someone who did not work at Cricket Australia, took the lead the call while Nick, the chief executive, took a back seat. The consultant then said that the best way to get ahead of the story was if I stood down as captain," according to media reports.

The former Australia Test captain admitted his mistakes but also claimed that it was reciprocally consensual.

"I knew what had happened. Cricket Australia knew what had happened and in my mind this guy didn’t know, or worse than that, it was like he believed that I had sexually harassed her. Then Nick chimed in, saying how experienced this guy was and how he thought I should listen to his advice. I said, ‘Do you want me to resign as Test captain, Nick?'

"He couldn’t give me a straight answer, or wouldn’t. He kept talking around in circles. And this guy said, ‘If you resign as Test captain it will take the air out of it but if you stay on they are going to keep coming at you.’ I think he said I wouldn’t last until Monday and I replied that I would if they backed me in," Paine said, acording to media reports.