Khawaja claims whole Australia team knew of 2018 sandpaper use

LONDON | 07-11-2026 : Usman Khawaja has claimed that the entire Australia team knew about the use of sandpaper to tamper with the ball during their 2018 Test series in South Africa, according to BBC News. His account places the question of who knew about the tampering at the centre of fresh reporting on the episode.

In a separate report, ESPNcricinfo said Khawaja had told Nine newspapers that Cricket Australia never interviewed him about the events at Cape Town in 2018. The outlet also reported that he is preparing to set out his version of events in an autobiography.

The two reports were published on 6 November, with ESPNcricinfo’s appearing at 22:59 UTC and the BBC’s at 23:11 UTC. Both focus on Khawaja’s account, rather than a newly announced finding by cricket authorities.

Claim concerns the whole team’s knowledge

According to the BBC, Khawaja’s allegation is that awareness of the sandpaper use extended to the entire Australia team. That is a claim about collective knowledge; the supplied reporting does not establish what each individual player knew, when they knew it or what actions they took.

The distinction matters in describing his account accurately. Saying that players knew about the use of sandpaper is not, by itself, a detailed account of their participation in obtaining, handling or using it. Neither supplied summary provides that individual breakdown.

ESPNcricinfo likewise presented Khawaja’s remarks as an account of shared involvement in the 2018 episode. However, the material supplied for this article does not contain the full interview or the autobiography passages in which he explains his position.

Questions about the interview process

Khawaja’s other reported assertion concerns Cricket Australia’s handling of his evidence. ESPNcricinfo said he told Nine newspapers that the governing body had never interviewed him about Cape Town 2018. That statement is attributed to Khawaja and is not independently confirmed in the supplied material.

The available summaries do not include a response from Cricket Australia to either the interview claim or the allegation that the whole team knew about the sandpaper. They also contain no responses from other members of the Australia side. Their absence from these summaries should not be taken as confirmation of Khawaja’s account.

Autobiography to present his version

ESPNcricinfo reported that Khawaja is set to disclose his version of events in an autobiography, but the supplied information gives no publication date or further detail about its contents. It therefore remains unclear from these sources how extensively the book will address individual players or the process followed by Cricket Australia.

For now, the development is Khawaja’s reported challenge to the understanding of team knowledge, alongside his assertion that he was not interviewed. Both remain claims made in his account; the supplied reports do not provide corroborating testimony or a formal assessment of them.

Sources: BBC News; ESPNcricinfo, reporting Khawaja’s remarks to Nine newspapers.