What Cummins said about sandpaper scandal: Key points from explosive presser

NewsSports NewsCricket NewsWhat Pat Cummins said about Usman Khawaja and sandpaper scandal: Key points from explosive presser What Pat Cummins said about Usman Khawaja and sandpaper scandal: Key points from explosive presser Edited by Amit Kumar / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Nov 13, 2026, 06:59 IST Australia captain Pat Cummins has strongly rejected Usman Khawaja's claims (Image credit: Agencies) Australia captain Pat Cummins has strongly rejected Usman Khawaja's claims that the entire Australian team knew about the use of sandpaper during the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.Cummins addressed the allegations during a 68-minute press conference at Cricket Central in Sydney.

He called Khawaja's claims "100% wrong" and "complete and utter nonsense".Khawaja, in his recently published autobiography, alleged that the entire Australia XI knew about the use of sandpaper in the Cape Town Test.

He also claimed that two players had refused to take collective responsibility for the incident.Cummins responded to several allegations, spoke about the 2018 investigation, his relationship with Khawaja, the punishments handed to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, and his current relationship with Smith.

Watch Indian cricket team receives traditional Haka welcome in Tauranga Did the entire Australian team know about the sandpaper?Cummins strongly denied Khawaja's claim that all 11 players knew sandpaper was being used to tamper with the ball during the Cape Town Test in 2018."When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100% wrong," Cummins said.

"I've said that consistently for the last eight years, I did not know that was happening."But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that. "He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball-tamper with sandpaper.

That's complete and utter nonsense. I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper. "That's not the Usman that I know. It's not the Usman that I think, or that has been part of a team that's helped rebuild this Australian cricket culture over the last eight years, and you know the Usman that would have stopped that from happening there and then.

Usman's a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations."In his book, Ussie has been casual with my life and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket."I support his right to tell a story 100%.

I'm really glad that he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do." Was there a master-plan to tamper with the ball?Cummins admitted that the Australian team had a win-at-all-costs mentality in 2018.

He also spoke about an "ugly underbelly" and too many groups within the team. However, he rejected the suggestion that there was a planned effort to use illegal methods to make the ball reverse."There was no master-plan around using illegal methods," Cummins said.

"I think that's maybe something that hasn't been spoken about enough. People assume you've gone from very legal methods [to get the ball to reverse] to suddenly taking sandpaper, and there must have been some huge master-plan."The truth, that is not the case."That's one of the reasons why I really want to talk through [it], because context and details matter around this.

There's no grand plan. There's no team meeting. There's no bowlers saying this is what must happen. I think there's natural progressions that get you there."Did Cummins know about sandpaper being used before the Port Elizabeth Test?Khawaja also alleged that sandpaper had been used on the ball near the boundary before the start of a session during the Port Elizabeth Test, now known as Gqeberha.

That match took place before the Cape Town Test.Cummins said this was new information for him and that he was surprised by the claim."That was news to me this week," Cummins said. "I had no idea. Even chatting a couple of guys, that was a revelation to us.

That was one of the things that really surprised me because that doesn't happen anymore."The umpires give the ball out to you in the middle, so I don't remember that. I remember growing up, used to watch for the umpire dropping the ball, but I genuinely don't remember that being the case.

I don't know where that stopped. So that was a revelation to me this week."Had Cummins ever seen ball-tampering during his career?Cummins said the only time he had seen someone use an illegal object to change the condition of the ball was early in his career in a Sheffield Shield match.He recalled a senior New South Wales batter using a bottle cap on the ball.

However, he refused to reveal the player's name or the match."He was a batter," Cummins said. "He was a senior player, I won't mention him, but he took a bottle cap out in the field, and that was the one time I've seen on the field.

I was looking at it going, 'Wow, that's not okay.' It was dealt with. The umpires knew it as well. They called him out and said, 'You've got to stop that right now.' He was dealt with. That's the only time I've seen something illegal out there."Did two players refuse to take collective responsibility?Khawaja claimed that he had asked the Australian team to take collective responsibility for the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town.

He also alleged that two players had refused to support his suggestion.Cummins said he did not remember any such discussion or team meeting."First part, I don't remember any conversation around collective responsibility," Cummins said.

"I don't remember any team meeting where he stood up and said, 'Let's all own this as a team'. So then, to follow on, no, I've got no...