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Live EPL on SN this weekendKhawaja explains long wait for his sandpaper revelation
Scott Bailey & Justin Chadwick, AAP • November 8th, 2026 6:25 pm
Usman Khawaja has detailed a frank conversation he had with Steve Smith in 2018 | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
Usman Khawaja insists he has not thrown anyone under the bus with his bombshell ball-tampering revelations that have rocked Australian cricket.
One day on from admitting sandpaper had been used in the Test prior to Cape Town 2018 and the entire team were responsible, Khawaja defended the timing of his claims.
In a five-minute long Instagram explanation, Khawaja revealed he planned to go public with the details just days after the incident before the suspended Steve Smith talked him out of it.
Khawaja also explained his attempt to ensure the entire team took the blame for it in 2021, before a public statement from the bowlers denied any knowledge.
But Khawaja said he promised childhood friend David Warner he would reveal everything post retirement in his book, believing Warner, Smith and Cameron Bancroft had taken the fall for the entire team.
"I haven't thrown anyone under the bus," Khawaja said.
"The guys that are currently in the team right now and the other people that were there on the South African tour, including me, we're not the victims.
"These three guys took the blame for all of us. They're the victims ... people telling them that they're cheats, getting nailed by the crowd. Public humiliation."
Former Test captain Mark Taylor, who was a Cricket Australia (CA) director at the time of the scandal, noted on Sunday he was "disappointed" the sandpaper scab has been reopened.
"It's going to be obviously a nightmare for Pat Cummins and the team," Taylor said on Nine.
"It's going to be a great thing for the book sales ... it's going to be disappointing for the game of cricket. I'd love to move on, but I don't think we ever will."
CA opted against commenting on Sunday's development, having maintained it is "comfortable" with findings from 2018 that only Warner, Smith and Bancroft knew of the ploy.
Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon continue to maintain their silence.
It is believed the bowlers are satisfied the joint statement they released in 2021 - denying any knowledge of the sandpaper scheme - still stands.
Extracts from Khawaja's memoir Sabr, which will be released on Tuesday, detail how an Australian player applied sandpaper to a ball in the changeroom in the second Test against South Africa at St George's Park in 2018.
Khawaja claims that when teammates saw how scuffed up one side became, they realised how much it would swing then Bancroft volunteered to use the substance.
While Khawaja says that was initially only done at the start of sessions when entering the field, the tactic then expanded to on the field in Cape Town.
Khawaja also alleges in the book that a member of Australia's coaching staff had encouraged Bancroft to ramp up whatever he was doing with the ball, before the West Australian was caught by cameras and eventually umpires.
In the post on Sunday, Khawaja said he would "not deny" that everyone knew, and revealed how close he was to going public in 2018.
Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith played plenty of cricket together | Photo: David Moir/AAP
"I told Smudge (Smith) that I was going to come clean to the media," Khawaja said.
"I couldn't believe the penalties he got. But Smudge being the man and leader he was, he talked me out of it.
"He wanted to take the blame. I argued with him, but he was having none of it."
Khawaja claimed he spoke extensively with then-coach Justin Langer and Todd Greenberg in 2021 about the team taking collective responsibility, with Greenberg then CEO of the players' union before becoming CA boss.
The 39-year-old said he never felt comfortable talking about it while back in the Australian team from 2022.
But he argued the fact he had held back the book until after Australia's Test return to South Africa last month was proof this was not a money-making venture.
Cameron Bancroft was at the centre of the 'sandpapergate' scandal in 2018 | Photo: Tony McDonough/AAP
"Call me a chicken or whatever you want. I didn't know how to do it because I was still in the team," Khawaja said.
"I was always conscious of putting my team first, but I'm not in that team anymore.
"I stuck up for all cricketers in the past with the ACA (players' union), fighting for what I thought was right. This is no different.
"These three guys deserve justice."
Khawaja has also been critical of CA over its handling of the investigation into Cape Town, and that he was not interviewed.
