'Call me a chicken....' - Usman Khawaja opens up on ball-tampering scandal silence

Usman Khawaja explained why he stayed silent during his playing days despite knowing about the ball-tampering scandal. In a series of videos shared on Instagram, Khawaja revealed that he initially wanted to go public with what he knew about the infamous incident, but Steve Smith talked him out of it. He also said that the joint statement released by Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, in which they stated they did not know about the incident, further discouraged him from speaking out.

"I wasn't going to go to war with those guys back then. I just wasn't comfortable. That's the truth," said Khawaja.

"So then you ask, why didn't I say anything in those four years while I was still playing? You know what, I never wanted to be the first guy to talk about this. Call me a chicken or whatever you want. I didn't know how to do it because I was still in the team. How was I ever supposed to bring this up when I knew some of my teammates didn't want to talk about it? I knew everything I did or said would influence and affect the team.

"I was always conscious of putting my team first, but I'm not in that team anymore. What I say now isn't a reflection of them anymore. My words no longer influence the team. I speak for myself."

The former Australia top-order batter said that a promise he made to his childhood friend, David Warner, was one of the key reasons behind publicly revealing what he knew about the ball-tampering scandal.

Khawaja stated that Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft were the true victims of the Sandpapergate saga, arguing that they bore the blame for "all of us", referring to the entire Australian squad on the 2018 South Africa tour.

"I haven't thrown anyone under the bus," Khawaja added. "The guys who are currently in the team and the others who were on that South Africa tour, including me, we're not the victims. These three guys took the blame for all of us. They're the victims. They've been called cheats, copped abuse from crowds and endured public humiliation.

"I made a promise to my childhood friend David Warner that I would tell the truth so he could tell his story," Khawaja continued. "I'm absolutely, 100 percent unapologetic about that. I stood up for all cricketers in the past through the ACA, fighting for what I believed was right. This is no different.

"These three guys deserve justice, and I haven't pointed fingers at anyone. I'm still searching for the same thing I was searching for all those years ago: for us, myself included, to share the blame as a team so that we can all move on from this once and for all. You know what? I would do it again in a heartbeat."