Usman Khawaja, the former Australian opener, has reportedly cancelled the rest of his TV and radio interviews scheduled to promote his autobiography, ‘SABR’. The decision comes after a difficult interview in which he was pressed about his claims regarding the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, widely known as Sandpapergate.
News Corp reported that the publisher Penguin notified media outlets of the cancellations on Wednesday morning. This followed Khawaja being questioned by Sarah Ferguson on ABC's 7.30.
Khawaja is reportedly worried that his upcoming interviews will centre mainly on the ball-tampering controversy instead of the other topics covered in his book. During Tuesday's interview, he had already made clear that he did not wish to discuss the allegations any further.
"I've talked on social media about this, and I've written in my book. That's my statement; that's what it is, and I'm not going to really speak on any more of it at this moment in time," he said during the ABC interview.
During his conversation with Ferguson, Khawaja was asked about Warner backing his version of events and his statement that any "lies will eventually get out".
"What lies is he talking about?" she asked. "I'm not going to speak on behalf of Davey. I've tried my best to tell my story in an open and safe environment,” Khawaja replied.
As Khawaja said, he wanted the whole team to share the responsibility for the act and not leave the burden to three players.
Furthermore, Ferguson asked Pat Cummins, who is the captain of the Australian team, whether he knew about the use of sandpaper. But he did not get any answer to his question.
"I'm not going to answer that. I've written what I've written in my book. I've come out and stood by those three guys and told my account of what I saw,” Khawaja had said.
Cummins, along with fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, had publicly denied knowing about the incident in 2021.
Khawaja sparked debate once again on Saturday by stating that everyone from the Australian team knew about the ball tampering plot when it occurred in the Test match against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018.
His statement contrasts with the conclusions of Cricket Australia at the time, where it was determined that Smith, Warner, and Bancroft were informed of the plan before it took place. Khawaja further stated that sandpaper was used in the previous Test match in Port Elizabeth.
"It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us," he said ahead of the release of his book.
Khawaja denied that his revelations were driven by an intention to improve the commercial prospects of his upcoming autobiography. As Khawaja informed Ferguson, the issue of ball tampering was not a subject of deliberation when he signed the publishing deal in 2023.
"Even when I gave it to them six months ago, they were shocked because I don't really talk about this to anyone. The reason I felt more comfortable saying it now is that I don't speak for the team anymore. If I try to come out and do it while I'm still on the team, they have to look at me every day. We have to go operate as a team,” Khawaja said.
Cricket Australia has responded to Khawaja's claims and defended the findings of its investigation. However, it also accepted that the inquiry was completed within a short period. Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg has ruled out reopening the investigation.
