Usman Khawaja Autobiography: Why Sabr Has Australia Worried

Usman Khawaja hasn't published a word of his autobiography publicly, yet it has already hijacked the build-up to Australia's return to South Africa. The reason is simple: he was in the Newlands dressing room in 2018, and nobody outside Penguin Random House knows what he has written about it.

What Is Usman Khawaja's Autobiography

The book is called Sabr and and is due for release on November 10, shortly after Australia's three-match Test series in South Africa ends. Khawaja retired from international cricket earlier this year, so this is the first time he has told his story in full as a former player.

Two details stand out. Khawaja did not use a ghostwriter, and publisher Penguin Random House has not made advance copies available. Its contents remain a closely guarded secret, so everything said about what's inside is, for now, speculation.

Why Is Sandpapergate Back in the Headlines?

Two things collided this week. First, Code Sports reported that Khawaja had briefed Australia captain Pat Cummins on the book's contents. Cummins confirmed the conversation at his pre-series press conference. Second, this is Australia's first Test tour of South Africa since the Cape Town scandal of March 2018. They have returned for limited-overs series twice, but never for Tests.

The build-up has been saturated with retrospectives. SuperSport, the broadcaster whose cameras first caught Cameron Bancroft, promoted the series by re-posting the original footage, captioned: "Our cameras will be sharp for this 3-match Test series." David Warner has also dropped hints that more information is still to come out.

What Happened in Cape Town in 2018?

During the third Test at Newlands, Bancroft was caught on camera using a foreign object on the ball and then hiding it in his trousers. After play, he and captain Steve Smith told the media he had used sticky tape with granules from the pitch. Cricket Australia's investigation proved that false: it was sandpaper.

The investigation found that Warner conceived the plan, enlisted Bancroft and showed him how to do it. It found that Smith directed that the evidence be concealed. CA's sanctions were:

CA also said then that Smith, Warner and Bancroft were the only members of the touring party, players or staff, who knew about the plan. Khawaja played all four Tests of that tour.

What Has Pat Cummins Said About the Book?

Cummins was relaxed, at least publicly. "Uz gave me a buzz a few weeks back that he's releasing a book. He didn't go back into too much detail. He just basically gave me a heads-up that he's doing a book. As always, [my response was], 'No worries, you can tell your story. That's fine.'"

He added that he is not worried about any new revelations: "It was obviously a long time ago. All the investigations and everything was done back then. I answered every question a million times. It was dealt with then. All I can say is [that] as a group, we've moved on."

Are the Teams Still Hostile?

Not according to Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg, who travelled with the squad. "We're all staying in the same hotel, both teams; we're actually having breakfast together. I don't think there's that heightened emotion between the teams that [used to be] here. Eight years ago is a long time." He also praised the group's progress: "It's a very different cultural environment, a very different cricket team than what came here eight years ago."

Who Could the Book Affect Most?

This is the question driving the intrigue, and the honest answer is that nobody knows. What can be said is who has the most at stake.

• Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon. Australia's four bowlers in the Cape Town Test have consistently denied any knowledge of Bancroft's plan. In 2021 they issued a joint statement calling for an end to "rumour-mongering and innuendo" after Bancroft said it was "self-explanatory" that they had known more than they let on. Any detail in the book touching on what the dressing room knew would put that denial back under scrutiny.
• Steve Smith. He is the only one of the three sanctioned players still involved with the national side. Warner has retired, and Bancroft is out of Australia's plans.
• David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Both have already been publicly cast in the central roles of the scandal.
• Cricket Australia. Its investigation concluded the plan involved only three people, so any account that complicates that finding would reopen a question the board considers closed.

Whether the book contains anything damaging is unknown. Khawaja has not said it does, and Cummins' relaxed reaction suggests nothing he was told alarmed him.

Why the Timing Matters

Khawaja is releasing the book days after the series ends, which keeps it out of the cricket itself while still riding the wave of attention. For Australia, the timing is uncomfortable: the first Test in Durban begins Friday, and the retrospectives have turned a routine series into a referendum on what the 2018 team did and didn't know.

What We Know, and What We Don't

We know the title, the release date, that Khawaja wrote it himself and that he warned Cummins and Cricket Australia. We don't know whether the book touches on Sandpapergate at all, let alone reveals anything new. Until November 10, the story is less about what's in *Sabr* than about how much anyone is bracing for it.