{
  "id": 18662828,
  "title": "Australia’s Khawaja claims entire team knew about ‘Sandpapergate’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/australias-khawaja-claims-entire-team-knew-about-sandpapergate-18662828",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-07T07:01:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Citizen",
    "slug": "the-citizen",
    "url": "https://www.citizen.co.za/sport/cricket/australia-khawaja-claims-entire-team-knew-about-sandpapergate/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Usman Khawaja, the former Australian opener, has claimed that the entire Australian cricket team was aware of the controversial \"Sandpapergate\" scandal that took place during a 2018 Test match in Cape Town. According to Khawaja, not only the batters and bowlers, but also the team staff were aware of the ball-tampering plot. The incident ultimately led to the sacking of captain Steve Smith, who was found to be the only player with prior knowledge of the scheme, along with his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Both Smith and Warner faced a year-long ban, while Bancroft received a nine-month ban. However, former teammates such as Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon publicly denied having any knowledge of the scandal in 2021. Khawaja, who recently released his autobiography, expressed his belief that the truth about the matter should have been revealed earlier and questioned why it took this long for the truth to come out. Darren Lehmann, the head coach at the time, denied that everyone in the team was aware of the plot, stating that ball-tampering was once a common practice in international cricket but is now obsolete and wrong.",
  "summary": "\"It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.\"",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 8,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "BBC Sport",
        "title": "Whole Australia team knew of sandpaper use - Khawaja",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/06/whole-australia-team-knew-of-sandpaper-use-khawaja",
        "published": "2026-11-06T22:06:57.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Indian Express",
        "title": "Usman Khawaja reveals ‘all of us’ involved in 2018 Australia sandpaper ball-tampering scandal",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/usman-khawaja-reveals-all-of-us-involved-in-2018-australia-sandpaper",
        "published": "2026-11-07T00:58:22.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja disputes findings in 2018 ball-tampering probe",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/australian-cricketer-usman-khawaja-disputes-findings-in-2018-ball",
        "published": "2026-11-07T01:34:01.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "New Straits Times",
        "title": "Australia's Khawaja claims entire team knew about 'Sandpapergate'",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/australias-khawaja-claims-entire-team-knew-about-sandpapergate",
        "published": "2026-11-07T02:43:56.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "ABC News AU",
        "title": "Lehmann says 'everyone' was ball tampering globally, denies Khawaja's sandpaper claims",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/lehmann-says-everyone-was-ball-tampering-globally-denies-khawajas",
        "published": "2026-11-07T03:49:32.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Al Jazeera",
        "title": "Khawaja claims entire Australia team knew about 2018 ball-tampering scandal",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/khawaja-claims-entire-australia-team-knew-about-2018-ball-tampering",
        "published": "2026-11-07T05:46:54.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Dawn",
        "title": "Australia's Khawaja claims entire team knew about 'Sandpapergate'",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/07/australias-khawaja-claims-entire-team-knew-about-sandpapergate-18653464",
        "published": "2026-11-07T06:21:41.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}