Usman Khawaja has claimed that the entire Australia touring party knew about the sandpaper plot in South Africa in 2018, reports Cricinfo.

The former opener says sandpaper was also used in the second Test at Gqeberha, before the Newlands Test in which Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using it.

Khawaja made the claims to Nine newspapers on Saturday, three days before his autobiography Sabr is published.

“It was all of us,” he said. “Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.”

Khawaja said he did not want to be the one to speak, having assumed the truth would emerge during the eight years since.

He also says he told teammates in the dressing room after the Newlands Test that the team should accept responsibility collectively.

Usman Khawaja has claimed the entire Australia team was involved in the sandpaper plot in 2018 https://t.co/pFGXLUWgHA

— Cricinfo (@cricinfo) November 7, 2026

Cricket Australia’s investigation found that only Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft had prior knowledge. Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months and Bancroft for nine.

Warner also received a lifetime ban from leadership roles, overturned in 2024, which allowed him to captain Sydney Thunder in the BBL.

Khawaja says he was never interviewed, despite sitting beside Bancroft throughout the Test.

He believes he was passed over because Cricket Australia knew he would tell the truth if asked.

Cricket Australia said in a statement that it remains comfortable with the findings of its integrity process, while stressing that anyone with relevant information can still present it.

Darren Lehmann, then head coach, told the ABC he did not believe everybody would have known.

He said the claims had taken those involved and their families back to a bad place.

Bancroft suggested in 2021 that it was “self-explanatory” that the bowlers knew.

Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon responded with a joint statement denying they knew of any foreign substance until the big screen showed it.

Khawaja had already briefed Cummins and Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg about the book’s contents.

Khawaja wrote the book himself, without help from an established writer or journalist.

The claims arrive a week after South Africa beat Australia by 176 runs in the third Test at Newlands, the ground where the Sandpapergate scandal unfolded.

Khawaja also says South Africa were far better than Australia at working on the ball.

Faf du Plessis, their captain in 2018, has said his side also tried to get the ball reversing by unconventional means.