Former Australia opener Usman Khawaja has claimed that the entire dressing room knew about the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town in 2018. This declaration, made ahead of his book 'Sabr', contradicts Cricket Australia's assertion that only Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft were aware of the sandpaper plot. Khawaja retired from international duty after Australia's 4-1 Ashes thrashing of England last winter.
He stated: "It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us." Captain Smith, Bancroft, and Warner, the architect of the 'Sandpapergate' plot, all received bans, with Smith and Warner suspended for one year and Bancroft handed a nine-month sanction.
In 2021, bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon issued a joint statement insisting they had no idea about the ball-tampering. That came after Bancroft replied "I think it's probably self-explanatory" when asked if the bowling attack knew. Cummins, Starc, and Hazlewood have since been rested from the white-ball series at home to England, while Lyon is not in the limited-overs set-up.
Khawaja revealed that ball-tampering plans were first discussed in the second Test of the 2018 series in Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha. He added that he genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have come out by now, perhaps hoping Davey Warner would expose it. He maintains the right thing to do is particularly for the three guys involved, as most guys in the team will be relieved to move on.
He recalled telling teammates to take it as a team, saying they did this as a team and have to take it as a team. He was surprised he was never asked to give evidence despite playing in the Cape Town Test. Reflecting on the first chats, Khawaja said Smith essentially threw his hands in the air and said he didn't want to know.
Khawaja scored over 6,000 runs for Australia.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing