Usman Khawaja refuses to name teammates in sandpaper row as book tour media schedule 'adjusted'

Former Australian batter Usman Khawaja has refused to name his teammates in the 2018 Cape Town Test sandpaper row amid chatter over his book tour media schedule being cancelled. Reports in Australian media suggest that Khawaja cancelled his upcoming scheduled media interactions, podcasts and interviews, following an interview with broadcaster ABC, where he chose not to call out names in the ball-tampering saga.

The former Ashes winner Khawaja insisted he wanted his then teammates to take collective responsibility for the repercussions of that episode, which saw Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft banned by Cricket Australia (CA). He did not want to be responsible for a ‘witch hunt’ regarding specific players.

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"The book tour is 100% still going ahead; we've just had to make some adjustments this week, but no major cancellation of the tour at all," said Khawaja's publisher, Penguin, in a statement to ABC.

Even though Khawaja has claimed in his autobiography Sabr that the bowling quartet in that contentious third Test against South Africa, Mitchell Starc, current Test captain Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, were aware of the sandpaper usage, a CA probe gave a clean chit to the bowlers. In 2021, all four released a joint statement claiming that they "did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field".

In the TV interview, Khawaja said, "It's never been for me about pointing fingers and saying, 'he did this; he said that'. That's why even when I first wrote my edit, there were names, there were lots of things, and I pulled it back.

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"Sometimes I'm very specific on things, and sometimes they're a bit vague on things, and I do it on purpose because I'm trying to tell a story.
"My main objective here is always to try and take accountability as a team, to say, yes, this was happening. And even though one person did it or the captain knew about it, and Davey Warner always took the heat for it, that it wasn't just them, that we were all involved in it as a team,” he continued.

While Starc has stood by his 2021 statement following the uproar surrounding the book, David Warner publicly backed his longtime opening partner's decision to share his perspective.

When asked about Warner’s comments, Khawaja said, "I'm not going to speak on behalf of Davey. I've tried my best to tell my story in an open and safe environment.

"Twenty-two pages is what sandpaper is, and I've tried my best in that to explain my version of events.

"I'm not here to inflame the situation any more. I was here to tell my truth, what I saw, what I felt, and to stick with those three guys that were made out to be the only people who have taken it, and I wanted that to be shown,” he added.