Khawaja Informed Cummins and CA Boss About ‘Sandpaper’ Controversy Before South Africa Tour

Usman Khawaja directly notified Test captain Pat Cummins and Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg that his upcoming memoir will include a chapter on the 2018 Sandpapergate affair, just before the Australian squad left for South Africa.

Usman Khawaja sat down with Cummins in Brisbane over coffee to walk him through what the book would expose, a planned move to ensure that neither the captain nor the board were caught off guard once the trip began.

Greenberg later acknowledged to the Sydney Morning Herald that Khawaja gave him and Cummins the heads-up ahead of the South Africa series. Greenberg also stated that the book would not be released while the tour was still in process. Sabr: Finding My Way in Cricket and Life is set to be published by Penguin Books Australia on November 10, 2026, and will be 448 pages long in hardback, ebook, and audiobook format.

Why does the sandpaper chapter have such importance on this tour?

Khawaja was a member of the Australian squad touring South Africa in 2018, when the ball-tampering incident surfaced during the Cape Town Test. Cricket Australia’s investigation at the time identified David Warner as the mastermind behind the sandpaper plot, with Cameron Bancroft being captured on camera applying the sandpaper to the ball. Khawaja has long been a close friend of Warner, and his written depiction of those events is far more significant than a conventional book chapter.

Greenberg’s public statement makes a clear distinction between the current tour and the publishing of Khawaja’s story.

The timing of the current tour has also brought the initial incident back into the public eye via various routes. SuperSport uploaded a three-minute, 49-second video to social media site X showed Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball during the 2018 match. That tape spread widely in the days running up to the first Test between Australia and South Africa, which is set to commence in Durban on October 9, 2026. The viral footage and the impending memoir have re-established Sandpapergate as the focal point of Australian cricket’s public debate.

What does Greenberg’s clarification say about the book’s release?

The November 10, 2026 publishing date indicates that the devoted Sandpapergate chapter, as well as whatever else the memoir contains about those events, will not be available to the public until after the South Africa series concludes. At this time, no administrative or disciplinary action in connection with the book’s contents has been confirmed.

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The specifics of what Khawaja wrote concerning the 2018 scandal have not been revealed prior to publishing. Only the existence of the chapter has been confirmed using existing sources. Khawaja’s decision to brief both the captain and the chief executive before departing indicates that he anticipated the chapter would receive significant attention, and that he preferred transparency with Cricket Australia’s leadership over allowing the revelations to surface unexpectedly during a live international series.

Priya Verma

Priya Verma is a cricket enthusiast and content creator covering cricket updates, player statistics, tournament schedules, and major achievements, helping fans discover interesting stories from the cricket world.