{
  "id": 19774627,
  "title": "What Cummins said: Relationship with Khawaja, Australia's 'underbelly' and the 'most serious' claim",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/what-cummins-said-relationship-with-khawaja-australias-underbelly-and",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-11-13T07:39:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ESPNcricinfo",
    "slug": "espncricinfo",
    "url": "https://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1562426.html?ex_cid=OTC-RSS"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Australia captain Pat Cummins has addressed allegations made by former teammate Usman Khawaja in his autobiography, Sabr, regarding the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town. Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian team from the 2018 South Africa tour was aware of the sandpaper use, rather than only the three players implicated.\n\nCummins described the claims as \"utter nonsense\" and \"100% wrong,\" according to BBC Sport and Yahoo Sports. According to Yahoo Sports, Cummins stood by the bowlers' statements from 2021 and denied knowing about the plot. The Times of India reported that David Warner expressed continued support for Khawaja's claims and accused Cummins of undermining them.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Guardian",
        "title": "Pat Cummins press conference live updates: Australian cricket captain speaks about Usman Khawaja’s ‘sandpapergate’ claims",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/pat-cummins-press-conference-live-updates-australian-cricket-captain",
        "published": "2026-11-12T22:49:08.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Yahoo Sports",
        "title": "'100 per cent wrong, utter nonsense': Pat Cummins hits out at Usman Khawaja over Sandpapergate allegations",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/100-per-cent-wrong-utter-nonsense-pat-cummins-hits-out-at-usman",
        "published": "2026-11-12T23:32:43.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Times of India",
        "title": "Sandpaper row: Pat Cummins opens up on legal action against Usman Khawaja",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/13/sandpaper-row-pat-cummins-opens-up-on-legal-action-against-usman",
        "published": "2026-11-13T02:37:26.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "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."
}