Tell your story: Pat Cummins undeterred by Khawaja book’s Sandpaper Gate revelation
Australia captain Pat Cummins is unfazed by potential revelations about the Sandpapergate scandal in Usman Khawaja’s book and insists his side has moved on from the scandal. Australia will face South Africa in South Africa in the Test series for the first time since the scandal in 2018.
Khawaja’s autobiography, Sabr, is expected to hit the shelves on November 10 after the conclusion of Australia’s three-Test tour of South Africa. According to a report by Code Sports, the former Australian opener has already discussed the contents of the book with Cummins, although the details remain under wraps.
Cummins acknowledged he had discussed the autobiography and its content with Khawaja, but said he did not mind new details emerging about the ball-tampering scandal. The Australian captain added that he has dealt with questions about the controversy countless times over the past eight-and-a-half years.
“Yeah, Uz told me a couple of weeks ago that he’s publishing a book,” Cummins said in a pregame press conference.
“He didn’t go into too much detail. He basically let me know he was doing a book. As always (my response was), ‘Don’t worry, you can tell your story. That’s fine’.”
‘AUSTRALIA MOVED ON’
Cummins and Khawaja were both part of the Australian squad for the controversial Test in Cape Town in 2018, where television cameras caught Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball.
The scandal led to Steven Smith stepping down as captain and David Warner resigning as vice-captain. Cricket Australia subsequently handed out lengthy bans to Smith, Warner and Bancroft for their roles in the incident, which tarnished the sport’s reputation.
When pressed for an interview with Khawaja and the book, Cummins said the best person to answer would be the former Aussie opener.
“I’m not too sure. You’ll have to ask him. It was obviously a long time ago. All the investigations and everything was done back then. I’ve answered every question a million times. It was dealt with back then.”
“All I can say is (that) we’ve moved on as a group. (I’m) very happy with the last eight or nine years, the way we’ve been as a group and developed and of course I’m focused on leading the cricket team,” Cummins said.
The sandpaper gate dominated the headlines in the South African broadcast series Supersport fanned the flames by releasing the full video of the incident on social networks.
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