Australia Test captain Pat Cummins held a media conference on Friday, November 13, to push back firmly against Usman Khawaja's sandpaper-gate account in his autobiography Sabr.
Australia Test captain Pat Cummins held a media conference in Sydney on Friday, November 13, 2026, to respond directly to allegations made by Usman Khawaja in his recently released autobiography, Sabr. The book, published in November 2026, contains Khawaja's account of the ball-tampering incident during the 2nd Test between Australia and South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 2018, and in it Khawaja alleges that every member of the Australian touring party was aware of the plan to use sandpaper on the ball.
Cummins described Khawaja's account of sandpaper-gate as 'complete utter nonsense' and labelled it '100% wrong'. He said the account was not consistent with the Khawaja he knows, and added that he was genuinely shocked by Khawaja's admission that he had told Cameron Bancroft to be careful when using the sandpaper. Cummins also stated there was 'no masterplan around Australian cricket using illegal methods', pushing back firmly against the central thrust of Khawaja's version of events.
"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations. In his book he's been casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket. I support him to tell his story, 100%, I'm glad he feels like he can but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do. It affects real people. It affects people's lives. It's also strange," Cummins told reporters.
What did Cummins say about Cricket Australia's ball-tampering review?
One of the sharpest points of disagreement between Cummins and Khawaja concerns Cricket Australia's formal review of the ball-tampering incident. Cummins confirmed at the presser that he was involved in that review process and said he felt it was the proper way to go about addressing the matter. This stands in direct contrast to what Khawaja wrote in Sabr, where he stated that he was not asked to be part of the review at all.
The Australian captain acknowledged that Khawaja told the truth at certain points in the book, but said other parts were vague. He also confirmed that he had not read Sabr in full and indicated he was unlikely to do so, suggesting that his response was based on the specific passages and claims that had been brought to his attention ahead of the media conference.
"I love Australian cricket. It's given me so much. This really affects Australian cricket. And I think the way that he's presented his story, I think he's done that in a very casual manner. And it affects a lot of people. That's what I'm grappling with at the moment because I don't think it's okay," the pace bowler further expressed.
What claims about the captaincy did Cummins address?
Cummins also addressed claims in Sabr relating to the captaincy situation that arose after Tim Paine stepped down from the leadership role. According to the book, Steve Smith was being considered for the captaincy at that time, while Khawaja was not part of those discussions.
The captaincy claims form one strand of a wider set of allegations in Sabr that have drawn considerable attention since the book's release. Cummins' pushback on both the sandpaper-gate account and the captaincy narrative reflects the depth of his disagreement with how events have been portrayed in the autobiography, and underlines his view that those who make public claims about others must be held accountable for the impact those claims have on real people and their reputations.