‘Tell your story’: Pat Cummins’ candid response to Usman Khawaj’s book on Sandpapergate

Australia captain Pat Cummins played down fears Usman Khawaja’s forthcoming autobiography could bring fresh attention to the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, also known as Sandpapergate.Australia return to South Africa for the first time since the scandal. The three-Test series starts at Kingsmead on Friday, but Cummins said the incident had already been resolved and the team had moved on.

Cummins says the team has moved on

Cummins was part of Australia’s bowling attack during the Test against South Africa in Cape Town in March 2018. Australia were caught illegally roughing up one side of the ball with sandpaper to induce more swing.The scandal caused a major crisis for Cricket Australia. Captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who was caught with sandpaper in his pocket, were banned for their roles in the incident.Cummins and fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon denied any knowledge of ball tampering.All four are now back in South Africa for the three-Test series.Cummins confirmed that he had spoken to Khawaja, who was also part of the Australian squad during the 2018 Test at Newlands. However, he added that they did not discuss the whole matter in detail.“He didn’t go into too much detail. He basically told me he was doing a book, and yes, as always, no worries. Tell your story. That’s fine,” Cummins said.

Khawaja’s book could return to the scandal

Australian media reports said Khawaja wanted the entire team to accept collective responsibility following the scandal. However, the proposal was reportedly rejected at the time.Cummins said he did not know what Khawaja had written in his autobiography, due to be published next month.“You’ll have to ask him,” he said. “It’s obviously a long time ago. All the investigations, everything was done back then. We answered every question a million times. So yeah, it was dealt with back then. All I can say now is that we’ve moved on as a group, very happy with how we’ve been as a group and how we’ve progressed.”

The transmitter is being excavated in Australia

South African television station SuperSport, whose cameras caught the ball-tampering incident in 2018, also returned attention to the episode.The broadcaster shared a clip on social media showing Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball and the Australian team’s reaction after the players were caught.SuperSport added a warning ahead of the upcoming series: “Our cameras will be sharp for this three-match Test series.”