Former Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria has made serious accusations against his then captain Shahid Afridi, claiming he suffered throughout his international career because of the legendary all-rounder.
Ever since Shoaib Akhtar revealed that Kaneria was mistreated by his Pakistani teammates because he was Hindu last year, the spinner has been on fire, making headlines for several reasons, though, he didn’t bring the names out in public but he will soon make the revelation.
The tainted spinner, who played for Pakistan between 2000 to 2010, had ruined his career by getting involved in the spot-fixing scandal in 2009. He has been regarded as one of the finest spinners for Pakistan with 261 wickets from 62 Tests, but he could play only 16 ODIs for "Men in Green" in his career.
Now, the former spinner alleged that Afridi had been against him “from the beginning” while accusing the former Pakistan skipper of keeping him out of the one-day side, resulting in him not playing enough white-ball cricket in his 10-year international career, getting only 2-3 ODIs every year.
Kaneria told Sports Tak in an interview on Friday (May 15): “Shahid Afridi had been against me since the beginning. He kept me out of the one-day side. When we used to play together for the same department, he used to keep me on the bench and didn’t let me play the one-day tournament. I only played 16 ODIs in my 10-year career as I used to get only two or three matches every year.”
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Regretting his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal, the 39-year old said, “I regret it a lot. The regret is that had I informed the authorities that time then today this would not be happening. I made a mistake and I pleaded guilty. I have paid for the mistake. My international career got ruined but now, at least for humanity’s sake, I ask to lift up the restrictions on me so that I could take the art of leg-spin forward. I regret it but now I want to do something that people could remember always,”
Kaneria, who is Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker among spinners, is currently jobless and pleaded the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for help to give him a coaching role which would help him for livelihood as he is currently dependent on his YouTube channel and elder brother to support his family.
He signed off by saying, “I do not have a job. I used to go on news shows earlier, but the big Pakistan news channels have not paid my dues. I can only request them to pay. Now the channels have gone against me. So, now I have started my new YouTube channel. I do not have a team as of now. My elder brother has been taking care of family and finances,”
(With Indian Express Inputs)
