Recently, in a chat show, Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar made a shocking revelation about Pakistan players who mistreating Danish Kaneria for being a Hindu.
Danish Kaneria was only the second Hindu player after Anil Dalpat to represent Pakistan in international cricket. Shoaib Akhtar also said that Kaneria’s Pakistani teammate even barred him from picking up food from the same table as others because of his faith.
“Captain would raise eyebrows about him eating with us or taking the food from the same table. I told him that you could be the captain but your conduct is despicable. This guy (Kaneria) is chalking up so many wickets to win matches for us and you’re treating him like this,” Shoaib Akhtar spoke on a cricket show titled ‘Game on Hai’.
“No one was giving Danish any credit for his exceptional performance. That was totally uncalled for. He won us the Test series against England (in 2005). He snared all the top-order batsmen,” Akhtar said.
“I used to get livid when anyone was discriminated on the basis of region or religion. A Hindu born in Pakistan is entitled to represent his country. When that Hindu (Kaneria) won us the Test series against England (in 2005), I chided my team-mates for mistreating him,” Akhtar added.
Danish Kaneria is fourth on the list of bowlers with most Test wickets for Pakistan, behind only fast bowlers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Imran Khan.
Kaneria was given lifetime ban after allegations of being involved in spot-fixing. He subsequently filed an appeal against the ban, but this was rejected in July 2013.
