'Are we in kindergarten?': Ex-India player slams Cummins' sandpapergate explanation

Former India spinner Murali Kartik has backed Usman Khawaja in the ongoing debate over the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, questioning Pat Cummins' claim that he was unaware of the plan to use sandpaper during the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

The controversy resurfaced after Khawaja made several claims in his memoir, Sabr, suggesting that the entire Australian team, including current Test captain Cummins, knew about the plan to alter the condition of the ball.

Cummins rejected the allegations during a press conference on Friday, describing Khawaja's claims as "complete and utter nonsense".

Kartik, however, sided with Khawaja and said it was difficult to believe that the bowlers were unaware of a plan that was allegedly being carried out for their benefit.

"When it happened, there was a mini probe and three players were sent to the galley. Everyone knew what was happening. The problem is that if and when something like this happens, it's for the sake of the bowlers. 'Devious, underhand, wrong' - let's not go there. Once that is happening, and if I am the bowler while the other two guys are doing it for me, I don't know how anyone can say that I didn't know about it. How can anyone say that?" Kartik said on Cricbuzz.

He also questioned why only three players were held responsible for the incident, arguing that the bowlers would have been informed if the plan was intended to help them.

"I was surprised that only three guys had to bear the brunt of it. Everybody, all the bowlers, would've known. When you're trying to do something for the sake of the bowlers, wouldn't you tell the bowlers? How can anyone believe that? Are we in kindergarten to accept that sort of thing? There have been so many murmurs: 'Oh, Warner is going to come out with a tell-all. Warner is going to tell the story once he is done with everything. ' It's not him, it's Usman Khawaja who has come out and said that everybody knew. I am pretty sure everybody knew," he added.

The debate has also drawn a fresh response from former Australia opener David Warner, who accused Cricket Australia (CA) of covering up details of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.

Warner, who received a one-year ban for his role in the incident, questioned the governing body's investigation, claiming that it did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Starc or Nathan Lyon.

"As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation," he said on Instagram.

"If that's correct then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?"

"It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea.

"That stinks of a cover-up."

The controversy returned to the spotlight this week after Khawaja released his autobiography, in which he alleged that the entire team knew about the plan to use sandpaper to rough up the ball and make it swing.

Cricket Australia's investigation at the time concluded that only then-captain Steve Smith, his deputy Warner and Cameron Bancroft knew about the plan. All three were sent home from South Africa following the incident.

Cummins addressed Khawaja's claims during a lengthy press conference on Friday, describing them as "100 percent wrong".

Warner subsequently accused the Australia captain of throwing his close friend Khawaja "under the bus".