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Australia captain Steve Smith has come up with a sharp response to Monty Panesar’s sandpaper gate comments ahead of the Ashes 2025-26.

Ahead of the Ashes 2025/26, Panesar reignited the sandpaper row, saying that England players and the British media targeted Smith for his role in the ball tampering controversy in 2018.

When asked about the comments in the pre-match conference, Steve Smith dismissed the remarks from a former England spinner and took a jibe at him with reference to his 2019 appearance on a celebrity edition of a media show.

“I’m gonna go off topic for a second here,” said Steve Smith. “Who have you in the room has seen Mastermind and Monty Panesar on that? Any of you? Yeah, well, those of you that have, you’ll understand where I’m coming from, and those of you haven’t, do yourself a favour because it’s pretty comical.”

“Anyone who believes that Athens is in Germany, that’s a start; Oliver Twist is a season of the year and America is a city, (it) doesn’t really bother me, those comments.”

“That’s as far as I’ll go with that one,” he added. Steve Smith was suspended from international cricket for 12 months by Cricket Australia and stripped of captaincy as part of a leadership ban following the sandpaper ‘scandal’ in South Africa.

David Warner and Cameron Green were accused of ball-tampering, and Smith was the captain in the match.

Earlier, Panesar, who took part in England’s away Ashes campaign in 2006-07 and 2013-14, believes the current squad is better equipped to perform much better than those earlier touring sides that were whitewashed 5-0 in Australia.

Meanwhile, Australia haven’t lost a home test since 2011, Panesar believes the visitors have an edge this time given the hosts’ mounting injury concerns.

“You look at Australia and there’s no Pat Cummins and no Josh Hazlewood. They’ve got an opener, which is a David Warner replacement, but we don’t know how he’s going to go about it.

“Usman Khawaja, in the last couple of years, his record has not been great, let’s be honest. So, I just think England are on edge here, if England win the first Test match (they can win the series),” said Monty Panesar.

The first match of the Ashes 2025/26 will be played between November 21 and 25 at Optus StadiumPerth.