Dubai: Australia captain Pat Cummins has hit back at former teammate Usman Khawaja over his account of the infamous Sandpaper Gate scandal, describing the claims in the opener’s book as “100% nonsense”.
The relationship between the two Australians has taken a turn for the worse after Khawaja claimed that everyone in the Australian dressing room was aware of the ball-tampering incident during the 2018 Test series against South Africa.
Cummins and Khawaja had met before the release of the latter’s book, but the Australia captain has now publicly challenged his former teammate’s recollection of events, insisting there was no collective plan to use illegal methods to alter the ball.
“Usman’s a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations. In his book, Uzzi’s been casual with my lives and the lives of many others,” Cummins said in his press conference ahead of the first ODI between Australia and England.
He also rejected the suggestion that the ball-tampering operation was organised through a team-wide plan or meeting.
“There was no masterplan around using illegal methods. People assume you’ve gone from very legal methods to suddenly taking sandpaper, and there must have been some huge masterplan. That is not the case. There’s no grand plan. There’s no team meeting. There’s no bowlers saying this is what must happen,”
