My opinion hasn’t changed: Mitchell Starc rejects Usman Khawaja’s Sandpapergate claims, stands by 2021 statement

Mitchell Starc clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the other bowlers, while reiterating that his position remained unchanged.

Mitchell Starc, who was part of Australia's Playing XI in the Cape Town Test against South Africa eight years ago, has stuck to the account he gave in 2021 about the sandpaper-gate incident. The pacer maintained that the entire Australian team was unaware of the plan, a position that contradicts claims made by Usman Khawaja in his autobiography, 'Sabr'.

Mitchell Starc denied Usman Khawaja's claims about Sandpapergate. (AFP)

In 2021, Australia's bowling quartet -- Pat Cummins, Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon -- had released a joint statement denying prior knowledge of or involvement in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Starc clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of the other bowlers, while reiterating that his position remained unchanged. He also said he was unaware that sandpaper had been used on the ball during the Port Elizabeth Test, adding that this was the first time he had heard of it.

“Yeah, that’s the first I was aware of any of that taking place in PE (second Test) was when (Khawaja said it) … I’ll leave that for said authors to explain,” Starc said.

“I haven’t really paid much attention to be fair, obviously there’s differing opinions of eight years ago. We were heavily drilled through the process at the time, and since and I guess I won’t speak on behalf of the bowlers, but where I stand, my opinion hasn’t changed. My recollection hasn’t changed from what we said in 2021.

“As far as our statement said, we weren’t aware of things being taken on the field, that’s where I’ll leave it.”

Khawaja's book repons the chapter

The infamous Sandpapergate scandal returned to the spotlight with the release of Khawaja's autobiography, in which he devoted an entire chapter to the incident. Khawaja claimed that every player in the Test setup knew about the plan. David Warner and Chadd Sayers, who were part of Australia's Cape Town dressing room, backed his account, with Warner describing it as “100% accurate”.

However, Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said accounts of the incident had been inconsistent, following conversations with some other members of the Australian team over the weekend. CA has consequently ruled out reopening the investigation.