Sandpapergate wasn't just three players? Usman Khawaja makes shocking claim

Former Australia batter Usman Khawaja has made a shocking revelation that the entire team was involved in the infamous Sandpapergate scandal during the Cape Town Test in 2018. Sandpapergate remains one of the darkest chapters of Australian cricket history, as it led to a complete overhaul of the team and also brought a major cultural shift. 

The Australian team was caught using sandpaper to tamper with the conditions of the ball to help generate reverse swing as they found themselves behind in the Test match. Once Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera hiding a foreign object in his clothes, captain Steve Smith (1 year), vice-captain David Warner (1 year) and Bancroft (9 months) were banned by Cricket Australia (CA) for their involvement in the incident.

The then Australia head coach Darren Lehmann also stepped down from his position after the controversial series despite having no involvement in the scandal.

Recently, Usman Khawaja has revisited the scandal and made the big claim that the entire team was involved in the infamous incident. He also alleged that they used it in the Gqeberha Test prior to Cape Town.

Khawaja is set to make further explosive claims in his autobiography Sabr that will be published on November 10.

"It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us. Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game. I said, 'Take this as a team'. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance. Obviously, it didn't work that way, and those three guys got crucified,” Khawaja told Nine.

Until now, the word in the public domain is that only the three players banned were aware of the incident. Previously, Bancroft had claimed that all the bowlers were also aware of the ball tampering. However, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, in a joint statement, denied those claims.

Khawaja has also claimed that he was never interviewed by Cricket Australia's investigator about the incident despite sitting next to Cameron Bancroft in the dressing room.

In the aftermath of the incident, CA had sent then CA head of integrity Iain Roy and team performance manager Pat Howard to Cape Town to conduct a code-of-conduct investigation into the events of the match, which led to the punishments of Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

I wasn't interviewed by CA after the Cape Town Test: Khawaja

"I was sitting next to Cam Bancroft that whole Test match, and I didn't get interviewed. I thoroughly feel that I didn't get interviewed because of that, because they knew that I wanted to take it as a team, because they knew I was ready to tell the truth if I was interviewed. And I was waiting for my phone to ring. It just never rang, and then the penalties were given, and I couldn't believe it,” he added.

Meanwhile, the CA has released a statement following Khawaja's explosive claims, assuring that the integrity wasn't compromised during the investigation into the scandal.

"There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month's series in South Africa. During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case. All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process,” he CA statement said.