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Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has now shared his side of the story on the Sandpaper Gate scandal involving Australia. Faf du Plessis revealed that he felt particularly sorry for Cameron Bancroft after the ball-tampering incident during the 2018 Cape Town Test.
The entire cricket world was shocked when television cameras caught Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball. Later, Steve Smith lost his captaincy, David Warner was banned, and Bancroft also received a nine-month suspension from the game.
Warner and Smith were banned for 12 months by Cricket Australia (CA). Amid this, check India’s WTC Final qualification scenario after ENG vs PAK Lord's Test 2026.
Faf du Plessis reopens Sandpaper Gate, reveals he felt Sorry for Cameron Bancroft
Faf du Plessis, who was leading South Africa at the time, recalled the moment Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera. The Proteas side has shared that Bancroft appeared unsure of what to do after being exposed, and he felt really sorry for the batter at that time.
Speaking with Vernon Philander on the ‘Beyond the Boundary' podcast, Faf du Plessis said, "Bancroft, and honestly, my first instincts with him were I felt sorry for the guy. When I saw him, first of all, he did that, and I was like, ‘Shame.’ He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't know how to get the ball to reverse swing, because taking a piece of sandpaper out of your pocket with cameras is not the most clever thing to do.”
Faf du Plessis reveals what happened inside South Africa camp during Sandpaper Gate chaos
The former South African star further added that Australia had an extremely difficult situation and then faced an intense media storm. The situation became even more dramatic when the Australian team delayed its press conference following the day's play.
Du Plessis recalled that the players in the South African camp were wondering why Australia was taking so long to address the media. He added, “That statement was just like putting a blitz under a fire and just going there. And they were saying no one knows about it. The captain had no idea. The coach had no idea. And everyone was just like, well, hang on, what's going on here? Everyone knows what goes on in a dressing room.”
Faf du Plessis slams Cricket Australia, says political pressure made Sandpaper Gate worse
Du Plessis criticized the way Cricket Australia (CA) dealt with the crisis. He believes the incident could have been handled internally without allowing political pressure and public anger to make the punishment even heavier. Amid this, Ben Stokes all but confirmed to join the Adelaide Strikers for BBL.
The former RCB skipper further noted, “So, I think it was more the way that they handled that that caused a lot of noise. And then it went back to Australia, where the Australian Prime Minister got involved. The ex-cricketers were smashing the team. About how you can do that? And we were sitting there going, come on, guys. It's not like you guys got to be the first to do it. You never did it. Like, don't be a glasshouse."
Faf du Plessis says Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft paid too heavy a price
Meanwhile, Faf du Plessis said that ball tampering was not something only these Australian players had done, but Smith, Warner, and Bancroft were the ones who got caught. He felt sorry for them, especially Bancroft and Smith. Faf believed the punishment became much bigger than expected.
He thought it would last only “a week or a month," but the players ended up missing a full year of cricket. He also felt the blame should not have fallen only on three players and should have been shared by the whole team. Faf particularly felt bad for Bancroft because “he just didn’t know how to do it," while he praised Smith for taking responsibility as captain and saying, "It's my show.”
