Usman Khawaja has revealed he feared he might never be able to return to the Australian dressing room after the sandpaper scandal of 2018 , admitting he was unwilling to “go to war” with his Australian teammates over their refusal to accept collective responsibility for the ball-tampering saga.
In a series of extraordinary videos posted on social media on Sunday morning ahead of his book launch on Tuesday , the retired Australian batsman also claimed former captain Steve Smith talked him out of publicly revealing what he knew eight years ago, with the skipper determined to shoulder the blame and serve his one-year suspension.
Khawaja has doubled down on his explosive claim that every player in the team – including the bowlers, despite their repeated denials – knew sandpaper was being used on the ball not only during the infamous Cape Town Test in 2018, but also in the preceding match in Gqeberha, then known as Port Elizabeth.
Khawaja was speaking on Sunday after a series of inflammatory extracts from his autobiography reignited the scandal and raised questions about why he waited eight years to speak publicly about the events that led to Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft being banned.
Khawaja also claimed Bancroft had used sandpaper on the ball during the second Test, revealed he had confronted teammate Nathan Lyon over dropping the ball on South African batsman AB de Villiers following a runout, and suggested he had overlooked for the interim captaincy at the end of the series because “Australia wasn’t ready for a brown captain”.
Khawaja has put renewed pressure on Australia’s bowlers to come clean, arguing the three players who were sanctioned have unfairly carried the burden of the scandal for eight years.
In his book, Khawaja writes that he was “really pissed off” that two unnamed teammates were unwilling to accept collective responsibility for what happened in South Africa.
“Time to clear up some facts,” Khawaja said on social media. “When I mentioned it was all of us, that’s implying that whether we like it or not, we’re all responsible for what happened together as a team. We need to take that collectively.
“Now that everyone’s talking, am I going to deny that everyone knew? Nah, I won’t deny that either. I never speak on behalf of anyone else in my book.
“Why now? I’ve been trying to take this as a team right from the start. I wrote everything that happened down a few days later after Cape Town. When the other guys got their penalties, I told Smudge [Smith] that I was going to come clean to the media. I couldn’t believe the penalties he got.
“Smudge being the man and leader he was talked me out of it. He wanted to take the blame. I argued with him, but he was having none of it. That’s the first time I tried to come out.”
Khawaja said the issue “reared its ugly head again” in 2021, when he contacted then Australian coach Justin Langer and pleaded with him to convince other members of the team to speak publicly together.
He said he also raised the matter with then Australian Cricketers’ Association boss Todd Greenberg.
Instead, the four frontline bowlers from the Cape Town Test – Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon – issued a strongly worded statement denying any knowledge of a plan to tamper with the ball.
“Then that statement came out from the guys. What could I do then? I wasn’t going to go to war with those guys back then. I wasn’t comfortable. That’s the truth,” Khawaja said.
“Why didn’t I say anything in those four years while I was still playing? You know what? I never wanted to be the first guy to chat about this. Call me a chicken or whatever you want. I didn’t know how to do it because I was still in the team. How was I ever supposed to bring this up when I knew some of my teammates didn’t want to talk about it? I knew everything I did or said always influenced and affected the team.
“I was always conscious of putting my team first, but I’m not in that team more. What I say now isn’t a reflection of them any more. Now my words don’t influence the team at all. I speak for myself.”
Khawaja insisted he had not betrayed his former teammates by speaking out, arguing the real victims were the three players who had been publicly vilified and forced to carry the shame of the scandal.
“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, are not the victims. These three guys took the blame for all of us. They’re the victims.
“Yes, it was tough for everyone, including me. I had sleepless nights. I told [wife] Rachel and Justin Langer, ‘I’m not sure if I can go back in the change rooms ever again’. Those three [Smith, Warner and Bancroft] are the ones that had to endure this for the last eight years, quietly. I’m glad everyone else has moved on from this. But I promise you, those guys have not moved on. How can they if the truth has never come out?
“I made a promise to my childhood friend David Warner that I would tell the truth, so he could tell a story. I’m absolutely 100 per cent unapologetic for that. I stuck up for all cricketers in the past through the ACA, fighting for what I thought was right. This is no different.
“These three guys deserve justice, and I haven’t pointed fingers at anyone. I’m still searching for what I was searching all those years ago. For us, me included, to take the blame together as a team, so we can all move on from this once and for all. You know what? I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon have so far declined to comment through their managers.
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