2 Australia Stars "Showed True Colours", Refused To Take Accountability For Sandpapergate: Usman Khawaja

Usman Khawaja's autobiography 'Sabr' has finally been released in its entirety, revealing his end of the story and several previously unknown details about 'Sandpapergate'. Debates and discussions over Australia's most infamous cricketing moment of the past decade have been rekindled of late - after Khawaja revealed that the entire team knew about ball-tampering and the use of sandpaper during Australia's Test series against South Africa in 2018. Khawaja has written about exactly how the team went about doing it, and the silence that followed on the subject from some of his teammates.

"I personally never tampered with a ball - in terms of scratching it or anything - but I knew everything that was going on and I wasn't against it, which makes me complicit," Khawaja wrote.

How The Ball-Tampering Happened

Khawaja documented how the ball-tampering was done via the use of sandpaper, and claimed that it had been done in the second Test in Port Elizabeth, and not just the third Test in Cape Town, during which Australia were caught on camera.

"We all knew that the umpire would drop the ball on the boundary as we went out onto the field. At that point, there'd be no cameras on us and the umpires would be about 100 metres ahead. We could then do whatever we wanted. Straightaway, Bull (David Warner) said, 'Well, I can't do it - they're all over me.' I was never going to do it, nor did I think anyone else would. So I just laughed. Then, Cameron Bancroft, who was only six games into his Test career and maybe wanting to fit in, said, 'I'll do it.'

"When something becomes so prevalent - like doping was in the Tour de France for years - it's hard not to join in. Compete, or be left behind. Not that it makes it right," Khawaja wrote.

"The next session, we absolutely went through the South Africans. Every time during the session the ball was passed to me at gully, I'd take a look and think, 'Wow, even I could reverse swing this ball'. I know what you're probably thinking right now. Didn't you guys get caught in Cape Town, not Port Elizabeth? Yes, we did, but who said we didn't do it the game before as well?" Khawaja further wrote.

Getting Caught, And The Aftermath

Khawaja narrated how the Australian team felt when they saw the footage of Bancroft rubbing the ball on sandpaper on the big screen.

"Every one of the boys on the field then was sh****ng themselves. And Bangers (Bancroft) was the worst.Then on the big screen came the biggest shock. It showed Cameron taking the sandpaper and putting it in his undies. By this stage, we knew: we'd f****d up and f****d up hard," said Khawaja.

Khawaja, who retired earlier this year, expressed sympathy over the fact that Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft took the brunt of the blame, and expressed shock that some teammates distanced themselves from the incident totally. He said that two people were not in favour of taking collective responsibility of the incident.

"This was the most disappointing part for me. I knew who those two guys were, and it was ludicrous that, out of everyone, it was them. It showed me their true colours, though. When the going got tough, all they cared about was themselves. But I wasn't going to stop fighting this cause. CA did a pretty unthorough investigation after that. It was almost as if they didn't want to find out the whole truth," said Khawaja wrote.

"I still don't think it's right that those three boys copped all of the brunt. Their lives were turned upside down, and the psychological impact will remain with them forever. Unless I speak up about it, they'll continue to have to hold the burden. It's very clear I knew what was going on. I just want to say sorry to the three guys. We let you down.

Khawaja extended a personal note to long-time friend and opening partner David Warner.

"But mostly to the guy who copped the lion's share of the blame, my good friend David. You shouldn't have to carry this your whole life. Over the years, you've suffered more insults than anyone about this. You were not the architect. We were all the architects," he said.

Khawaja also narrated another incident of how one player refused to take accountability.

"One of the bowlers went on 'The Back Page' TV show and was asked point-blank if he'd known anything about the ball tampering. He flat out denied it. David was seething, and understandably so. I remember him texting me and sending the clip. He listened to what I had to say, and when I finished my rant he just looked at me and said, 'Uzzy, unfortunately, this affects everyone, mate, not just you. You can come out and say all this stuff, but will it really help anything? The punishments have already been handed down. If anything, it would only make things worse'," Khawaja revealed.

While Khawaja is now retired from international cricket, a number of players from the Test are still active.

The bowling group of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon had denied any knowledge about the ball-tampering in a collective statement in 2021, but whether there's a chance in that stance will be found out in the coming days or weeks.

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