Former Australia National Cricket Team opener Usman Khawaja reignited the infamous Sandpapergate scandal on Saturday by stating not only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft -- who were subsequently banned for the incident -- but also that 'it was all of us'.

Later, on Sunday, Khawaja clarified his decision and mentioned he did not throw anyone under the bus by issuing his previous comments. Usman Khawaja addressed cricket's one of the most debated topics almost eight years later, ahead of the release of his autobiography this week.

A dedicated chapter for the Sandpapergate incident

In his autobiography, Usman Khawaja dedicated an entire chapter to the Sandpapergate scandal, which took place in Cape Town during a Test match against South Africa. Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were spotted using sandpaper on the ground to scratch the surface of the ball.

As the camera caught the moment when they took out the paper to rub it on the ball, the cricket governing body made a strict decision by issuing a ban on Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

While the investigation found that only three players were involved in the matter, Usman Khawaja recently said, "It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us."

Khawaja shared a long post from his Instagram channel to elaborate on his previous comments. He claimed further that whether they liked or disliked the decision to use the sandpaper in the Cape Town Test, as a team, they were all responsible.

"When I mentioned it was all of us, that's implying that whether we like it or not, we're all responsible for what happened together as a team," Usman Khawaja wrote in his Instagram post.

"We need to take that collectively. That is all. I haven't thrown anyone under the bus. The guys that are currently in the team right now and the other people that were there on the South African tour, including me, we're not the victims. These three guys (Smith, Warner and Bancroft) took the blame for all of us," he further wrote in the same post.

Was it a marketing strategy to create hype around the autobiography?

The retired cricketer, who represented Australia in 88 Tests, why took so many years to address the topic in the public domain? Was it a marketing strategy ahead of his book launch?

According to Khawaja, it was not a marketing strategy, as he had tried to raise the ball-tampering issue publicly multiple times before. Right after the incident, Khawaja wanted to speak publicly, but Steve Smith took the responsibility and faced the media.

Later, in 2021, he went very close to addressing the Sandpaper Gate publicly when Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all denied publicly that they knew about the issue.

"Call me a chicken or whatever you want. I didn't know how to do it because I was still in the team," Khawaja said.