Eight years after the infamous incident, Khawaja has claimed in his autobiography, , that the entire team was involved and in the know of the use of sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball. “It was all of us,” Khawaja told the Sydney Morning Herald in an interview. “Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.”

The 39-year-old added that the team had even used sandpaper before the Cape Town Test. In the second Test of the series at Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Khawaja claimed the team discovered the use of "sandpaper as an effective agent". He added that Bancroft volunteered to use it at St George's Park before eventually being caught on camera at Newlands.

Notably, Cricket Australia had confirmed in their findings that only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were responsible for the Sandpapergate scandal. CA banned Smith and Warner for 12 months from playing international and domestic cricket while also banning the latter from leadership positions for life. Bancroft was given a nine-month ban, whereas Warner's leadership ban was overturned in 2024.

Khawaja claimed he felt at the time that the team should have taken a collective responsibility as everyone was clearly aware of the use of sandpaper. “In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this,” he added. “I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.”

“Maybe I thought Davey would have exposed it, or someone else would have talked about it more. I just didn’t think it was going to come down to this. But the longer it’s gone on for, and right from the very start, I’ve been on the train of collectively taking it.

“Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game. I said, ‘Take this as a team’. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance. Obviously, it didn’t work that way, and those three guys got crucified.”

Interestingly, Bancroft was asked in an interview with The Guardian 2021 if the bowlers were aware, in reply to which he said it was ‘self-explanatory’. The quartet of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon had then released a statement denying they were aware of the use of a foreign substance on the field to change the condition of the ball.

Cricket Australia releases statement after Khawaja’s revelations

Following Khawaja’s revelations, CA released a statement backing its investigation. “There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month’s series in South Africa,” the statement read.

“During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case. All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process.”

Khawaja responds to the outrage

On Sunday, November 8, Khawaja responded to the outrage from the media and the cricket fraternity, sticking to his stance firmly. In an Instagram post, he spoke about the conversation he had with Smith, who refused Khawaja to talk to the media.

"When the other guys got their penalties, I told Smudge that I was going to come clean to the media. I couldn't believe the penalty he got, but Smudge being the man and leader he was, talked me out of it. You can read it. It's in my book. He wanted to take the blame. I argued with him, but he was having none of it. That's the first time I tried to come out."

He claimed in the video that he tried to talk to Langer once again in 2021, as well as to the ACA CEO Todd Greenberg, but the statement from Australia bowlers shut down any opportunity he had of coming clean.

"So, again in 2021, it reared its ugly head. And, I once again called JL on the phone for hours. Alf, Alf, come on, let's take it together. Let's cop it as a team. We have another opportunity to finally take this, squash this once and for all. I was on the phone to Todd Greenberg, who was the ACA CEO back that time too, who's our player union. But, then that statement came out from the guys. And, pretty much, what could I do then? I wasn't going to go to war with those guys back then. I just, I wasn't comfortable," he said.

In the following post, Khawaja further talked about how the entire saga has affected the trio, and that they have not been able to move on. He also claimed he had promised Warner to reveal the truth.

"Those three are the ones that had to endure this for the last eight years, quietly. People telling them that they're cheats, getting nailed by the crowd, public humiliation. None of us had to deal with it. And I'm glad everyone else has moved on from this too. But I promise you, those guys have not moved on. How can they if the truth has never come out? And I know this because I've been told by them."

"Bancroft told me at length how hard the last month was watching the teams in Africa, dealing with everything. Davey, his whole last eight years he's had to deal with his family, and Smudge, he doesn't even want to talk about it anymore. But lastly, and most importantly, I made a promise to my childhood friend, David Warner, that I would tell the truth so he could tell the story."

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