Tell your story: Cummins unfazed by Sandpaper gate revelations in Khawaja's book

Pat Cummins says Usman Khawaja is free to tell his story and is unfazed about the prospect of having new sandpaper gate revelations coming to light in the former Australia opener's autobiography.Cummins claimed that Australia have moved on from the controversy (Courtesy: Reuters)New Delhi,Oct 9, 2026 08:55 ISTAustralia captain Pat Cummins is unfazed about the potential revelations about the Sandpapergate scandal in Usman Khawaja's book, insisting that his side has moved on from the scandal. Australia are set to face South Africa in South Africa in a Test series for the first time since the scandal in 2018.Khawaja’s autobiography, Sabr, is scheduled to hit the shelves on November 10, following the end of Australia’s three-Test tour of South Africa. According to a report by Code Sports, the former Australia opener has already discussed the book’s contents with Cummins, although the details remain under wraps.Cummins acknowledged that he had discussed the autobiography and its contents with Khawaja, but said he wasn't bothered by the possibility of fresh details emerging about the ball-tampering scandal. The Australia captain added that he had already addressed questions on the controversy countless times over the past eight-and-a-half years."Yeah, Uz gave me a buzz a few weeks back, [saying] that he's releasing a book," said Cummins at the pre-match press conference. "He didn't go back into too much detail. He just basically gave me a heads-up that he's doing a book. As always, [my response was], 'No worries, you can tell your story. That's fine.'"'AUSTRALIA HAVE MOVED ON'Cummins and Khawaja were both part of Australia's squad for the controversial Cape Town Test in 2018, where television cameras captured Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball. The scandal led to Steven Smith stepping down as captain and David Warner relinquishing the vice-captaincy. Cricket Australia subsequently handed lengthy suspensions to Smith, Warner and Bancroft for their roles in an incident that damaged the sport's reputation.When pressed about his conversation with Khawaja and the book, Cummins said that the best person to answer would be the former Aussie opener."I'm not too sure. You'll need to ask him. It was obviously a long time ago. All the investigations and everything was done back then. I answered every question a million times. It was dealt with then.""All I can say is [that] as a group, we've moved on. [I am] very happy with the last eight or nine years, how we've been as a group and evolved, and obviously my focus is on captaining the cricket team," said Cummins.The sandpaper gate has dominated the headlines going into the series, with South African broadcaster Supersport stoking the fire by releasing the full video of the incident on social media.- Ends