Pat Cummins Not Concerned About Potential Sandpapergate Revelations in Usman Khawaja's Autobiography

Australia captain Pat Cummins has stated he is not worried about any potential revelations concerning the 2018 sandpapergate scandal that may appear in former teammate Usman Khawaja's upcoming autobiography.

Khawaja, who played in all four Test matches during the 2018 series in South Africa when the ball-tampering incident occurred, informed Cummins about his forthcoming book. Cummins said he received a heads-up from Khawaja about the autobiography, which is set to be released in November.

"Uz gave me a buzz a few weeks back that he is releasing a book," Cummins said. "He didn't go into too much detail, just basically gave me the heads-up that he is doing a book and, as always, no worries."

The captain emphasized that the incident, which led to bans for then-captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and batter Cameron Bancroft, is a closed chapter for the Australian team. Cummins, along with other bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon, who played in that series, have consistently denied prior knowledge of the plan to alter the ball's condition.

In 2021, the four bowlers released a joint statement addressing the matter: "We feel compelled to put the key facts on the record again. We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands."

The statement further addressed speculation, saying, "The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it because there was no sign of damage."

Cummins reiterated this sentiment, stating, "It was dealt with then and all I can say is that as a group, we have moved on and we are very happy with the last eight to nine years how we have been as a group and evolved and obviously my focus is on captaining the cricket team."

The current Australian squad is preparing for their first Test series in South Africa since the scandal. The ball-tampering controversy erupted in Cape Town in 2018 when Bancroft was caught using sandpaper to alter the ball's condition. At the time, Smith described the plan as devised by the team's "leadership group."

While the batters involved faced bans, questions have persisted regarding how the bowlers were unaware of the ball's altered state. Cameron Bancroft, in a 2021 interview, responded to a question about the bowlers' knowledge by stating, "It's pretty probably self-explanatory."

Mitchell Starc recently alluded to the lingering discussion around the scandal, asking, "What's left to come out after eight years?"

Cummins noted that the episode occurred "a long time ago" and has not significantly occupied the team's focus. "It's nothing new," he said. "We've spoken about it a little bit. If the crowd gets rowdy or whatever, if someone needs an extra helping hand, we're around. To be honest, it's so long ago and we, as a group, move on from things pretty quickly. It hasn't taken up too much of our time."

The upcoming tour of South Africa marks the beginning of a series of challenging away tours for Australia, which will also include trips to India and the Ashes defense in England. For the first Test, with all-rounder Cameron Green sidelined due to injury, the team is likely to choose between Cooper Connolly and Nic Maddinson for a middle-order position. South Africa has included two spinners, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer, in their squad for the Durban Test, anticipating a turning pitch.