Former Australian team-mate Usman Khawaja has made allegations that racism had influenced the decision to not make him the captain of Australian team. This claim has been strongly refuted by Australian captain Pat Cummins, who also denied the entire squad was aware of the ball-tampering allegations from the 2018 tournament.
The claims come from Khawaja’s autobiography, Unfiltered, and are given after his retirement from the international cricket in January 2026 after a 15-year tenure.
He claimed that they knew about the plan to tamper with the ball during the March 2018 Test against South Africa in Cape Town, and that all Australian players knew about it.
In a press conference in Sydney, Cummins said the accusations were “rubbish” and “absolute rubbish” in response to Khawaja’s book.
There was no team meeting or discussion with the bowlers regarding rubbing the ball with sandpaper, he said.
Cummins explained that he has consistently taken the same stance since the scandal and has been “fully cooperating” in the initial investigation.
The Australian captain also denied that his skin colour and ethnicity had influenced his chances of becoming a captain.
Meanwhile, former Australian batsman David Warner supported Khawaja, claiming that the allegations in his book were accurate.
Warner also condemned Cummins’ reply, claiming that his former teammate was treated unfairly.
The drama is about the Sandpaper Gate scandal from 2018 that led to 12-month bans for both Steve Smith and Warner, and a nine-month suspension for Cameron Bancroft.
Cummins said he had been given legal advice that some of the allegations may be construed as defamatory, but he would not be pursuing Khawaja legally.
Australian cricket should move on and forget about the last eight years of controversy, he added.
