Pat Cummins rejects Usman Khawaja’s Sandpapergate account after Sydney media session
Pat Cummins on Friday in Sydney dismissed Usman Khawaja’s recent revelations about Australia’s 2018 Sandpapergate scandal, saying Khawaja was wrong to suggest the bowling group knew sandpaper was being taken onto the field. Cummins told reporters: "When he says we all knew, if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100% wrong."
Khawaja has written that he warned Cameron Bancroft to be careful while using sandpaper during the third Test in Cape Town in March 2018; Cummins said that particular revelation had unsettled him and that he had never known sandpaper was being taken onto the field. The Australia captain rejected suggestions he and others were "architects" of a plan to tamper with the ball, calling that claim "complete and utter nonsense." Cummins also questioned why Khawaja had waited eight years to disclose what he says he knew.
Cummins began by addressing Khawaja’s treatment of teammates and the sport, saying: "Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. In his book he's been casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket." He added that he supported Khawaja's right to tell his story while stressing accountability: "I support him to tell his story, 100%. I'm glad he feels like he can but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do."
On the Bancroft detail specifically, Cummins said it did not fit the version of Khawaja he knew: "That's not the Usman that I know. It's not the Usman that has been part of a team that's helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years. And, you know, the Usman that would have stopped that from happening there and then." He said the revelation had weighed on him personally: "It's something I have been grappling with the last couple of days. Usman is a friend."
Cummins criticised the timing and process of Khawaja's disclosures, noting Khawaja had not approached him or others before publishing the account: "I think a really important part here is Usman has never really asked me or anyone else what we know." He suggested Khawaja may have been "grappling with that for eight years" and observed that Khawaja's proximity to Bancroft during the incident made his account appear to carry more knowledge than other teammates.
Responding to Khawaja's claim that Pakistani heritage and skin colour affected consideration for Australia captaincy, Cummins called the allegation "one of the most serious claims I had read" and demanded evidence: "To think that the job that I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour, it's a pretty big statement. If you are going to say that, I think you have to have evidence. And I just don't think that's the case." He reiterated his disagreement directly: "So again, I agree with Uzzy on a lot of things. But when I disagree, I tell him that I disagree. And him saying that if you're Australian captain, you have to be a certain skin colour, I couldn't disagree with that statement any more."
Cummins defended the team's cooperation with the original investigation, saying: "We all took part in that investigation at the time. We told them everything. Absolutely everything. Open book. So in some ways maybe that was for us part of the process to help get over it." He reflected on the dressing-room culture in 2018 when he was a 24-year-old playing his 13th Test, described that period as having an "ugly underbelly," and said changing that culture had been a priority during his six years as captain.
Cummins said he recognised Khawaja may never have fully moved on and allowed that writing could be part of processing the episode: "Maybe this is Usman's chance and he never really got over it at the time." He concluded the media session by reiterating he wanted to move on after addressing the allegations: "I don't want to talk about this again after today."
