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‘Part of selling books’: Darren Lehmann takes a dig at Usman Khawaja over ball-tampering revelations

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 08 Nov 2026 34 min ago

New Delhi: Former Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann has taken a dig at after the ex-batter made sensational revelations regarding the 2018 ball-tampering scandal. Australia were caught in one of the biggest cheating scandals in cricket after Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera tampering with the ball during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018.

Then Australia captain Steve Smith and senior batter David Warner later admitted that they were aware of the act as part of the leadership group. Both Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months each while Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban for his role in the ball-tampering scandal.

In his upcoming autobiography, Sabr, Khawaja alleged the entire Australian team was aware of the scandal, and they were collectively to be blamed for the controversy. The former Australian batter recently spoke to Channel Nine, where he said ‘all of us’ were aware of it.

“It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us. In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now,” said Khawaja.

I don’t think everyone would have known: Lehmann

Lehmann, who was Australia’s head coach at the time, responded to Khawaja’s revelations and countered the claims. Lehmann resigned as head coach after the ball-tampering scandal. The former Australian cricketer said he doesn’t believe everyone knew about the incident.

“I don’t think everyone would have known,” Lehmann told ABC.

“But you do know ball-tampering is going on because it’s been happening for 150 years. So it’s just how it’s being done and how you would know to that extent, I suppose, and how the bowlers would know, how other players would know.

“So that’s an individual case-by-case… on the players, and I suppose they’ll respond with their thoughts and what they know. I can’t speak for them at all. I can only know what I know, and I know that ball-tampering was a big part of the game of cricket. Now it’s obsolete. But that doesn’t make it right either, but that’s the case, and we paid a heavy price for that,” he added.

Lehmann also took a dig at Khawaja, stating that these revelations are “part and parcel” of selling books, questioning the timing of the incident. Lehmann indirectly accused Khawaja of using the controversy to increase the sales of his book, ‘Sabr’, which is set to be released on November 10.

“That’s part and parcel of selling books, I suppose. I don’t know what he’s getting paid. He’s probably getting paid a lot of money to do it. Is it worth it? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll write a book. Things are left unsaid sometimes for the good of the game and the good of the people. But it is what it is. You’ve just got to deal with it, don’t you? Each time it comes up. It’ll happen somewhere else, I’m sure,” Lehmann added.

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