Khawaja’s memoir is also causing rancour among current and former players and coaches.
In it, he said he had wanted the team to take collective responsibility for the tampering after batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught with the sandpaper on field.
“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’.”
However Khawaja has since said he didn’t want to start a “witch hunt” and has refused to answer questions on exactly who he claims knew of the scheme, and what they knew.
David Warner, who received the most severe punishment of the Cape Town trio, said Khawaja had written the truth and that Cummins’ press conference denying the claims “threw him under the bus”.
Steve Smith, the captain at the time who was also suspended, has been travelling overseas and is yet to say anything publicly about the claims in the book. Bancroft is also staying silent for now despite previously suggesting the bowlers knew.
But half of Australia’s living cricket royalty and a slew of former coaches – some of whom have been accused of wrongdoing too – have thrown in their two cents.
And Cricket Australia is under pressure from some to reopen its investigation into sandpapergate – something chief executive Todd Greenberg has already ruled out.
Prof David Rowe of the University of Western Sydney told the BBC the saga was still so painful for many players and fans as the country sees itself as “a nation of good sports”.
“The idea of being a good sport is two things. One is being good at sport, so you actually win. But the other side is that you do it honourably and fairly,” he said.
“Many Australians would see themselves as above all that. That is: cheating is what other teams get up to… not the nation of good sports.”
He said the revelation was a “nasty shock” which brought the country “collective shame” which lingers today.
He says he doubts that the cricket scene would be able to move on without a fresh response from the governing body, Cricket Australia.
“One of the best ways to fuel conspiracy theories and keep sandpapergate going is to essentially say ‘there’s no more to see here’ – especially when that comes from the authorities,” Rowe said.
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