Australia Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins has publicly responded to former opener Usman Khawaja's claims about the 2018 Sandpapergate scandal, calling the suggestion that the whole team knew about the plan to use sandpaper on the ball '100 per cent wrong'. Cummins spoke at a press conference on Friday, days after Khawaja's revelations in his recently released autobiography, Sabr, reignited a controversy that has rocked Australian cricket.

The official position from Cricket Australia since the incident in Cape Town has been that only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft knew of the plan to use sandpaper to scuff the ball during the third Test against South Africa, in order to help it swing in reverse. The three men were handed bans of up to 12 months for their roles. Khawaja's book claimed that the entire Australian touring side, including the bowlers, was aware of the sandpaper use, a claim that Cummins has directly rejected.S1S2

Cummins said that if Khawaja meant that the players knew sandpaper was going onto the field, it was entirely false, adding, "I've said that consistently for the last eight years, I did not know that was happening." He went further, describing Khawaja's broader suggestion that he and others were architects of a scheme to tamper with the ball as "complete and utter nonsense". Cummins also said he was shocked to learn that Khawaja had admitted telling Bancroft to be careful when using sandpaper, adding that it was not the Usman he knew, and that friends should not be casual with each other's lives and reputations.S1S2