Khawaja claims all players knew about Sandpapergate ball tampering

All players and staff knew about the ball tampering taking place during the infamous 2018 Cape Town Test, Usman Khawaja has told Nine newspapers ahead of the release of his book.

In a explosive claim in his new book Sabr, Khawaja says sandpaper was also used in the previous Test in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha.

"It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us," Khawaja told Nine newspapers.

The claim is at odds with Cricket Australia's assertion that only Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner knew about the tactic. Bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon also denied publicly in 2021 that knew about it.

Bancroft was banned for nine months after being caught using sandpaper on the ball during the third Test of the series in South Africa, while captain Smith and vice-captain Warner copped 12-month bans for their parts in the scheme.