Wasim Akram questions Pat Cummins' claim of ignorance over 2018 sandpaper scandal: 'As a bowler I'd know'

The ball-tampering controversy that engulfed Australian cricket in March 2018 has resurfaced with renewed intensity following claims in Usman Khawaja's autobiography released earlier this year. The row centres on whether the entire Australian squad was aware of the sandpaper scheme employed during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town, or whether certain players, including captain Pat Cummins, remained genuinely unaware of what transpired on the field.

Legendary Pakistan bowler Wasim Akram, who lifted the 1992 World Cup trophy with his nation, has now weighed in on the dispute by questioning Cummins' claim of ignorance.

"I saw Pat Cummins, who's a very close friend of mine, a great cricketer, one of the top leaders in world cricket, the way he leads his team from the front, and he said he didn't know," Akram said in a video posted by him on Facebook.

"It's my opinion, and it can be right or wrong, but as a bowler, when the cricket ball comes in my hand, either it's the fifth over, either it's in the 10th over, either it's in the 50th over – the old ball – where you look after the ball, you shine the one side if it's a dry day, a dry square, you one-bounce throw, you get it scratched a bit, but the sandpaper scratch is totally different than the one-bounce scratch," he added.

Akram emphasised that the tactile and visual differences between natural wear and deliberate tampering are unmistakable to any bowler who regularly handles the cricket ball.

"As a cricket lover, if you want to check, grab a semi-new cricket ball, grab sandpaper, and rub it in; you know the scratches are totally different. Again, as I said, I’m not taking anybody’s side. Australians are known and famous for their straightforwardness, hardness on the field, off the field, and, most importantly, honesty," Akram said.

On Friday, November 13, 2026, Cummins addressed the controversy during a press conference that lasted more than an hour. The Australian captain dismissed Khawaja's autobiography claims as "utter nonsense" and categorically denied any knowledge of the sandpaper scheme that came to light during the Cape Town Test eight years earlier.

Cameron Bancroft was caught on television cameras attempting to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to alter its flight characteristics during that 2018 incident.

Khawaja's autobiography asserts that every member of the Australian squad was aware of the ball-tampering plot. However, the bowling contingent comprising Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any awareness of sandpaper being used during play. They maintained that they only discovered what had occurred when television footage revealed the incident.

Both Cummins and Starc have since denied Khawaja's allegations, while Warner has publicly supported the former Australian opener's account of events. The dispute remains unresolved, with competing narratives about who knew what and when continuing to divide opinion within Australian cricket circles.