‘Not going to answer that’: Khawaja cancels book tour interviews after grilling on live TV

Usman Khawaja during the 7.30 Report show on ABC. (Screengrab)

Former Australia batter Usman Khawaja has reportedly turned down opportunities for television and book interviews after his appearance in an ABC show with journalist Sarah Ferguson left him dead-batting a series of questions over explosive claims from his new memoir, ‘Sabr’.

Earlier this week, Khawaja opened up on the infamous Sandpapergate scandal that rocked Australia during the 2018 tour to South Africa. The former opener revealed that the entire team knew about the devious ploy to alter the ball’s condition in the Cape Town Test and had tried the same in the previous Test in Port Elizabeth.

However, a public TV interview on the 7.30 Report show on ABC left Khawaja fending off questions like wading through a hostile spell of seam bowling.

“The book tour is 100[%] still going ahead, we’ve just had to make some adjustments this week, but no major cancellation of the tour at all,” a statement from Khawaja’s publisher Penguin to the ABC read.

ALSO READ | Khawaja’s latest: Before Cape Town, ball tampering took place at Port Elizabeth

Ferguson repeatedly pressed Khawaja during the show and asked whether the entire contingent besides the three sanctioned players – Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft – knew about the ball-tampering incident.

Khawaja did not reveal further details on the claim and also refused to entertain a question on whether the veteran bowling quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon knew about the tampering, an incident the bowlers have vehemently refused over the years.

Usman Khawaja faces tough questions from Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30 about the Sandpaper Gate scandal.

A must-watch interview, as Khawaja struggles to answer the questions. https://t.co/jnAqjNlPTO

— Cricketopia (@CricketopiaCom) November 10, 2026

“I’m just not going to entertain that,” Khawaja said. “And I say that for one reason: I wrote [the details] in my book because it was a safe space for me to write.

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“It took a long time to, first, write the chapter … and go over it and work out a way that it was as balanced as possible.”

Khawaja also refused to answer a question on whether the current Test captain Cummins had prior knowledge of the plan to doctor the ball.

“I’m not going to answer that. I’ve written what I’ve written in my book,” Khawaja said. “I’ve come out and stood by those guys [Warner, Smith and Bancroft] and told my account of what I saw.

“I’ve been very clear … there are instances when I talk about ‘us’ and ‘them’, but I’ve been very clear in not naming names and staying out of it. I’m not going to start now.

“This has never been a witch hunt for me.

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“You’ve got to remember [that] Pat Cummins is a good friend of mine. Mitchell Starc, a lot of these guys [are and] other players in the team [are too],” he added.