‘I haven’t thrown anyone under the bus’: Usman Khawaja defends timing of ball-tampering revelations

Usman Khawaja insists he has not thrown anyone under the bus with his bombshell ball-tampering revelations that have rocked Australian cricket.

One day on from claiming sandpaper had been used in the Test prior to Cape Town 2018 and the entire team were responsible, Khawaja defended the timing of his claims.

In a five-minute long, two-part Instagram explanation, Khawaja revealed he had planned to go public with the details days after the incident before the suspended Steve Smith talked him out of it.

He also detailed how he made another attempt to ensure the entire team took the blame for it in 2021, before a public statement from the bowlers denied any knowledge.

But Khawaja said he had made a promise with his childhood friend David Warner to spill the details of the saga post-retirement in his book, believing Warner, Smith and Cameron Bancroft had taken the fall for the entire team.

"I haven't thrown anyone under the bus," Khawaja said. "The guys that are currently in the team right now and the other people that were there on the South African tour, including me, we're not the victims.

"These three guys took the blame for all of us. They're the victims ... people telling them that they're cheats, getting nailed by the crowd. Public humiliation."

Extracts from Khawaja's memoir Sabr, which will be released on Tuesday, claim an Australian player applied sandpaper to a ball in the changeroom in the second Test against South Africa at St George's Park in 2018.

When teammates saw how scuffed up one side became, they realised how much it would swing and Khawaja claims Bancroft volunteered to use the substance.

While Khawaja says that was initially only done at the start of sessions when entering the field, the tactic then expanded to on field in the next Test in Cape Town.

Khawaja also alleges in the book that a member of Australia's coaching staff had encouraged Bancroft to ramp up whatever he was doing with the ball, before the West Australian was caught by cameras and eventually umpires.

In the post on Sunday, Khawaja said he would "not deny" that everyone knew, and revealed how he wanted to go public in 2018 once Smith, Warner and Bancroft were suspended.

"I told Smudge [Smith] that I was going to come clean to the media," Khawaja said. "I couldn't believe the penalties he got. But Smudge being the man and leader he was, he talked me out of it.

"He wanted to take the blame. I argued with him, but he was having none of it. That's the first time I try to come out."

Khawaja claimed he spoke extensively with then-coach Justin Langer and Todd Greenberg in 2021 about the team taking collective responsibility, with Greenberg then CEO of the players' union before now becoming boss of Cricket Australia.

The 39-year-old then said he never felt comfortable talking about it while back in the Australian team from 2022. But he argued the fact he had held back the book until after Australia's Test return to South Africa last month was proof this was not a money-making venture.

"Call me a chicken or whatever you want. I didn't know how to do it because I was still in the team," Khawaja said. "I was always conscious of putting my team first, but I'm not in that team anymore. What I say now isn't a reflection of them anymore.

"I stuck up for all cricketers in the past with the ACA [the players' union] fighting for what I thought was right. This is no different. These three guys deserve justice and I haven't pointed fingers at anyone."

Khawaja has also been critical of Cricket Australia over their handling of the investigation into Cape Town, and that he was not interviewed.

CA have maintained they are "comfortable" with their findings from 2018 that only Warner, Smith and Bancroft knew of the idea.

Other players including bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon distanced themselves from the incident, insisting they had no knowledge "of a foreign substance" being taken on the field.