AUS vs SA: 'That's fine,' says Cummins on Khawaja's book contents about Sandpapergate

The Australian cricket team is back in South Africa to play a Test series for the first time since the infamous Sandpapergate scandal in 2018. The Test series starts on Friday (Oct 9) in Durban, and Aussie skipper Pat Cummins spoke to reporters at the press conference on the eve of the match and talked about the incident. Cummins also acknowledged that Usman Khawaja, who was part of that Test as well, has told him about the content of his book, which is set to be released on November 10 – after the conclusion of the Test series.

Cummins on Khawaja's book and Sandpapergate

Khawaja had briefed Cummins about the contents of the book, reported Code Sports on Thursday (Oct 8). The former Aussie opener, who wrote the autobiography Sabr, has played 88 Tests, including 56 with Cummins and 36 of those under his captaincy. Cummins confirmed Khawaja talked to him about the book and said: "Yeah, Uz gave me a buzz a few weeks back, [saying] that he's releasing a book."

"He didn't go into too much detail. He just basically gave me a heads-up that he's doing a book. As always, [my response was], 'No worries, you can tell your story. That's fine,'" he added.

Cummins was also asked about Sandpapergate and how it impacts the Australian team in the present, to which he said: "All I can say is [that] as a group, we've moved on. [I am] very happy with the last eight or nine years, how we've been as a group and evolved, and obviously my focus is on captaining the cricket team."

What was Sandpapergate?

During the Newlands Test in Cape Town, South Africa was batting when the cameras caught Aussie player Cameron Bancroft rubbing sandpaper on the ball to gain an unfair advantage. In the aftermath, skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were stripped of their leadership roles, and all three players – Smith, Warner, and Bancroft – served long bans from the game.