Melbourne [Australia], November 7 (ANI): Australian legend Jason Gillespie has described Usman Khawaja's revelation about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal as 'fascinating', particularly his claim that he had urged the entire Australian team to take collective responsibility for the incident in a dressing-room meeting.

Eight years after the infamous Sandpapergate scandal, Usman Khawaja dropped a bombshell on Saturday, claiming that the entire Australian team, including players and support staff, was involved in the 2018 ball-tampering incident during the South Africa tour.

'Usman claims that he went and addressed the whole team and said, 'We need to take collective responsibility for this.' He said everyone was in that room. So, I found that really fascinating,' Gillespie said in a video posted by ABC Sports on X.

Until now, the widely accepted account of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, maintained by Cricket Australia (CA) and those involved, was that Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were the only players responsible. Smith and Warner received 12-month bans from international and domestic cricket, while Bancroft was handed a nine-month suspension.

'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,' Khawaja told Nine as per Cricinfo.

Khawaja said he had urged the Australian team to take collective responsibility for the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, insisting that everyone knew what was happening. 

He expressed disappointment that Smith, Warner and Bancroft were left to shoulder the blame, adding that Warner had faced repeated criticism over the past eight years while remaining silent.

'Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game. I said, 'Take this as a team'. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we had to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance. Obviously, it didn't work that way, and those three guys got crucified. I've seen Davey over the last eight years just get nailed bad over and over again, and it's taken a big man not to say anything and just to stay quiet,' Khawaja added. (ANI)