Australian Test captain Pat Cummins forcefully rejected former teammate Usman Khawaja's claims that skin colour prevented him from captaining Australia.

Cummins addressed the media for over an hour in Sydney on Friday (November 13), responding to major allegations made in Khawaja's newly released autobiography, Sabr.

Cummins stated that suggesting the Australian captaincy is "quarantined from people based on their skin colour" is a serious accusation requiring proof. While noting he agrees with Khawaja on many issues, he flatly disagreed with the idea that a player must be of a specific skin colour to lead the national team.

"I just don't think that's the case. I think of the things I've read, that's the most serious," Cummins told reporters.

"To think that the job I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour, it's a pretty big statement. If you are going to say that I think you have to have evidence. And I just don't think that's the case.

"Again, I agree with Usman on a lot of things but I disagree with him saying that if you're Australian captain you have to be of a certain skin colour, I have to disagree with that statement," he added.

In his book, Khawaja wrote that he believed he was overlooked for the Australian captaincy after Steve Smith’s suspension in the wake of the 2018 ball-tampering saga because of the "colour of his skin" and cultural background. He also argued that unfair criticism throughout his career echoed racial stereotypes.

When pressed specifically on whether he had witnessed racist behavior during his tenure as captain, Cummins replied: "I'd rather not go into that. I think that's maybe a story for Uzzie. But nothing since I've been captain that I can think of."

During the same press conference, Cummins pushed back against Khawaja's version of the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

In his memoir, Khawaja alleged that the entire Australian squad and coaching staff knew about the ball-tampering plot in South Africa, and that sandpaper was also used during the second Test in Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha).

Cummins dismissed the claim that he and other teammates were "architects" of the scheme as "complete and utter nonsense" and "100 percent wrong".

“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, is 100% wrong. I've said that consistently for the last eight years, I did not know that was happening,” Cummins said.

“But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to tamper the ball with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense. I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam Bancroft to be careful when using sandpaper,” he remarked.