Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has gone all in on Usman Khawaja's explosive claims around sandpaper gate, suggesting the former opening batsman is 100 per cent wrong.
Khawaja, in launching his book this week, suggested everyone in the dressing room during the infamous South African tour of 2018 knew that ball tampering was happening.
At the time, the fast bowling cartel which included Cummins wrote a letter denying they had any knowledge of what had happened, and multiple figures have also since denied they knew.
Khawaja said he was coming clean with the truth in an effort to stop the entire incident being blamed on David Warner and Steve Smith, as well as Cameron Bancroft, who all served lengthy suspensions.
In response to Khawaja's allegations, Cummins called a media conference on Friday morning at Cricket Central in Sydney and claimed Khawaja was wrong.
"When he says we all knew, if that he means we new sandpaper was going out on the field, he's 100% wrong," Cummins said.
"I said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening. But I think Usman actually says things that are far more serious than that.
"He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense.
"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations.
"In his book he's been casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket.
"I support him to tell his story, 100%, I'm glad he feels like he can but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do.
"It affects real people. It affects people's lives. It's also strange. I love Australian cricket. It's given me so much.
"This really affects Australian cricket. And I think the way that he's presented his story, I think he's done that in a very casual manner. And it affects a lot of people.
"That's what I'm grappling with at the moment because I don't think it's okay."
Cummins did suggest more than the three suspended players knew, but claimed he wasn't one of them.
"If we are talking about taking sandpaper out the front, all I can say is I did not know that was happening," he said.
"I'm not sure if there was more than those three (who knew about it) but I did not know.
"At that stage, even the umpires had a look. We didn't know it had been altered with sandpaper.
"But reverse swing is very normal, balls get roughened up every time we play. Whether that's from a foreign object or something that's totally legal and part of the game, sometimes it's hard to know.
"But out there in the field I did not see anything on the ball."
Khawaja's explosive claims, which he has defended in press appearances this week, have been slammed across social media given the timing of his revelations.
The former opening batsman has suggested the ball is tampered with at every level of the game, including in the Sheffield Shield.
Cummins spoke of all the methods he had heard the ball could be tampered with, but said the only thing he had seen in his time playing was a bottlecap on one occasion.
"I had heard superglue on brandings, so you shine the ball there," he said.
"I've heard zippers, superglue on the keeper's gloves, so you catch it. I had heard nail polish, layers and layers of nail polish. I bite my fingers so I would be terrible, but growing it out and making it super hard and using that.
"Obviously the Murray Mints one (where players use sweets to generate saliva to shine one side of the ball).
"I'd heard claims a long time that sandpaper was actually taped in between fingers and you leave a little patch, that was a long time ago. These are discussions that I'm sure every suburban change room have as well. We were having them in the Australian cricket team.
"But I think it's one thing to talk about but another thing to go ahead and do it.
"And again, all of those methods I pointed out, I'd say I've never seen in the Australian cricket team. Other than a bottlecap once."
During the press conference, Cummins also confirmed an animated discussion filmed with his wife was about Khawaja and her disappointment with the former batter, while the current captain also said he won't be taking legal action against Khawaja.
Cummins also slammed Khawaja for suggesting the only reason he didn't become a leader in the team after the ball tampering incident was down to racism.
"I think of the things I've read it's the most serious," he says.
"To think that the job that I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour, it's a pretty big statement.
"If you are going to say that I think you have to have evidence. And I just don't think that's the case.
"I agree with Uzzy on a lot of things - but when I disagree, I tell him that I disagree.
"And him saying that if you're Australian captain you have to be a certain skin colour, I couldn't disagree with that statement any more."
