Khawaja claims entire Australia team knew about 2018 sandpaper plot
Khawaja's autobiography claims widen the scope of the sandpaper scandal from three players to the entire touring party.
Usman Khawaja says the whole Australia squad knew about the 2018 sandpaper plot, and that the same ball-tampering tool was used in the Port Elizabeth Test before the Cape Town scandal broke.
He made the claims ahead of his autobiography release. Cricket Australia never interviewed him about the incident. The board responded that it remains comfortable with its original findings.
Darren Lehmann questioned why Khawaja waited eight years. Cameron Bancroft had already hinted that more people knew. Mitchell Johnson, who wasn't on that tour, said the bowlers' 2021 joint statement claimed they first learned of the plot from television images. He argued that if the group had owned the episode collectively, it would be done and dusted by now.
CricHubb Take
The real test for Cricket Australia isn't whether it launches another probe — it's whether the same people who managed the 2018 fallout will now confront the bowlers' claim that they were kept in the dark by teammates who knew.