He also questioned the thoroughness of Cricket Australia’s investigation, saying it felt rushed and that he was never interviewed despite being present alongside Cameron Bancroft during the episode. Former Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja has maintained that his revelations about the ‘Sandpapergate’ in 2018 are not intended to target individuals, reiterating that he wants the entire team to take collective responsibility for the incident. The ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal refers to ball-tampering by Australia during the third Test of the 2018 series against South Africa at Cape Town, for which then-captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner received one-year competitive cricket bans, while Cameron Bancroft was also handed sanctions, including a nine-month international/domestic cricket ban.
Khawaja stressed that he had expected the truth to emerge over the past eight years and spoke out to ensure the three players were not left carrying the blame alone. “I mean, I’ve written in my account from what I’ve seen. It’s only been those three guys who’ve had to cop this flak for a long time. I’m hoping other people will come up and talk about it honestly. “There’s no easy way to do it, but I mean, I’m not here to inflame the situation anymore. I was here to tell my truth, what I saw, what I felt, and to stick with those three guys that were made out to be the only people who have taken it, and I wanted that to be shown. I’ll say again, I’ve given my statement about what happened the game before and what was called back then Port Elizabeth and where we played there and what happened. And that’s why even when I first wrote my edit, there was names, there was lots of things, I pulled it back. But my main objective here is always to try to take accountability as a team. To say, yes, this was happening.
Because i’ve told my story and I’ve told my truth and I’ll speak for myself and there’s other times where I’m talking about what’s happened in that situation, but this has never been a witch hunt for me, and I’ve left it open-ended to some respects. Because i’m trying to tell a story, sometimes I’m very specific on things and sometimes they’re a bit vague on things and I do it on purpose. Ahead of the release of his autobiography ‘Sabr’, Khawaja had claimed that the entire Australian team, including players and support staff, was involved in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal during the South Africa tour.
He said the responsibility was collective, contrary to Cricket Australia’s findings that implicated only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Now, in an interview with ABC on Tuesday, Khawaja said he was not interested in conducting a “witch hunt” or pointing fingers at individual players, but wanted the three cricketers who faced sanctions to no longer carry the burden of the controversy alone. I’ve told you again, time and time again, like the easiest way for me to do it, and people want to know the answers and lots of different answers. That’s what I’m hoping but I’m not forcing anyone to do anything,” he said. Khawaja also said he did not consider the punishments handed to former Australian captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft appropriate. And I was honest to what I saw and what conversations I had,” he said during the ABC interview. “It’s never been for me about pointing fingers and saying, ‘He did this, he said that. And even though that one person did it or the captain knew about it and David Warner always took the heat too for it, that it wasn’t just them, that we were all involved in it as a team, as a squad that was there in South Africa,” Khawaja said.
