Usman Khawaja Makes Fresh Claims About Australia's Sandpapergate Scandal

Former Australia opener Usman Khawaja has made a fresh claim about the infamous 2018 ball-tampering scandal, saying the whole team was aware of what was going on. He also alleged that Australia had used the same method in the Test match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth, which took place before the Cape Town incident.

The scandal led to captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft being sent home from South Africa. Cricket Australia's investigation held the three players responsible, stating that they were the only ones who knew about the plan to alter the ball.

Khawaja, who called time on his international career earlier this year after 88 Test appearances, has now offered a different account of the incident. In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, he insisted that every player in the Australian team knew about it.

"It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us," said Usman Khawaja.

Khawaja then recalled the suggestion he gave to the team after the incident, saying he urged the squad to take collective responsibility rather than putting the blame on just Warner, Smith and Bancroft.

"In an ideal world, I don't want to do this." said Usman Khawaja.

"I don't want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.” added Usman Khawaja.

"Maybe I thought Davey (Warner) would have exposed it, or someone else would have talked about it more. I just didn't think it was going to come down to this." added Usman Khawaja.

Darren Lehmann, who was Australia's head coach at the time, denied that the whole team knew about the plan. However, he claimed that ball-tampering was once common in international cricket.

"I don't think everybody would have known. I can't speak for them (the players) at all. I only know what I know, and I know that ball-tampering was a big part of the game of cricket.” said Darren Lehmann.

"Now it's obsolete, but that doesn't make it right either and we paid a heavy price for that." added Darren Lehmann.

Lehmann also said that the incident could never be justified, but added that it was time for Australian cricket to move on.

"For the families and the people involved, I feel for them right now because it's taking them back to a really bad place," said Darren Lehmann.

"It's been eight years. You get to a place where you move on, and I've moved on with my life." added Darren Lehmann.