Usman Khawaja says he did not throw teammates under the bus over ball-tampering claims

Usman Khawaja denied on Sunday, 8 November, that he had thrown anyone under the bus over Australia’s 2018 ball-tampering scandal. In an Instagram video, he responded to reaction to an excerpt from his forthcoming autobiography, Sabr, according to Reuters.

• Khawaja said the players punished for the scandal had taken the blame for others on the tour.
• He said he had wanted to speak about the incident since 2018 and explained why he delayed publishing his account.
• Former coach Darren Lehmann disputed that everyone knew; Cricket Australia said it remained comfortable with its integrity findings.

The excerpt appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday, 7 November, The National reported. Khawaja wrote that the whole team knew about the ball-tampering during the Cape Town Test. His video came a day later, as he rejected the idea that he had singled anyone out.

Why Khawaja says he spoke now

Khawaja said he held the book account back until Australia had returned to South Africa, arguing that the timing showed it was not a money-making venture. Reuters reported that the Australian Test side returned there the previous month. Khawaja said the current team and people who toured South Africa in 2018, including himself, were not the victims; he said Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft had taken the blame and faced public humiliation.

What happened in the 2018 Cape Town Test

Australia’s use of sandpaper to scuff the ball during the March 2018 Cape Town Test became known as Sandpapergate. Smith, Warner and Bancroft received bans for their roles in the scandal, The National reported. Khawaja’s book account argued that responsibility extended beyond those three players.

The claim that the whole team knew has been disputed. The National reported that the four bowlers who played at Cape Town said in a joint statement in 2021 that they did not know a foreign substance had been taken onto the field. Former coach Darren Lehmann, speaking to ABC Sport, said he did not think everyone would have known. Cricket Australia said it remained comfortable with the findings of its integrity process and that there had been opportunities to present relevant information.

What it means

Khawaja framed his account as an effort to share responsibility for the scandal and said the three punished players had borne the blame. His claims about how widely knowledge of the ball-tampering was shared remain disputed; the reported responses do not independently establish who knew or when.