'Usman Khawaja Has To Sell His Book, So He Dug Up 8-Year-Old Grievances': Aakash Chopra Questions Timing Of Sandpapergate Revelations

New Delhi: Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned Usman Khawaja’s decision to revisit Australia’s 2018 Sand papergate controversy in his recently released autobiography, arguing that the revelations about the involvement of the team could have been made public after retirement.

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Chopra shared his views in a video on his YouTube channel, responding to Khawaja’s account of the ball-tampering scandal and his suggestion that more members of the Australian team were aware of the plan than was initially acknowledged.

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Chopra began by questioning whether the timing of Khawaja’s disclosures was influenced by the need to promote his book, while also acknowledging that the truth about the episode deserved to emerge.

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“Usman Khawaja has to sell his book. So he said he would dig up the eight-year-old grievances. Some people would say that the truth should come out at some point. I feel it should come. I feel this job could have also been done in a video after retirement,” Aakash Chopra said in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

“Until retirement, you feel you are part of that team, you don’t want to let your players down, and you have to go back to that dressing room. It still seems slightly wrong, but anyway. Even if that’s your thought process, after retirement you say you have guilt in your heart and would come out with it; then you could make a video or post a tweet. He tweets a lot,” he added.

The 2018 scandal, which erupted during Australia’s Test tour of South Africa, resulted in sanctions against Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. The initial narrative largely placed responsibility on a small group, with the rest of the squad maintaining that they had no knowledge of the ball-tampering plan.

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Chopra questioned that version of events and criticised Cricket Australia’s response, suggesting the governing body went beyond the ICC’s action in imposing its own penalties.

“When the Sandpapergate happened, it was said that only two or three people were involved and the rest of the team should be absolved because they had no idea. Everybody maintained the same story. ICC did what they had to, and after that, Cricket Australia wanted to show everyone that they were holier-than-thou, and that they would punish the people more, which included Steve Smith and David Warner, by denying them lifelong captaincy,” he said.

He also argued that the ball-tampering plan would have required awareness beyond the few players publicly punished, particularly within the bowling group.

“They went overboard, but now Usman Khawaja has said that they were all in it. I had also tweeted at that time that I couldn’t believe one or two people had done as they wished. No batter is that stupid. If fast bowlers are not included in that plan, that plan is useless,” he mentioned.

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