Hyderabad: Former Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar revealed that ex Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria was mistreated by his team-mates because he was a Hindu.
Akhtar claimed that Kaneria, who is only the second Hindu to have played in the Pakistani cricket team after Anil Dalpat and the only Hindu player in the Pakistan team in the last decade, faced discrimination from his fellow teammates and some players even barred him from picking up food from the same table as others because of his faith.
“In my career, the number of times I have had to argue with people regarding the issues of Karachi, Punjab, Peshawar is outrageous. People used to ask questions like, ‘Why are you eating (with us) here?’ to Hindu players like Danish Kaneria,” Akhtar said on a cricket show.
“I used to reply to those players, ‘How would you feel if I took your food from your house and forced to make you eat outside?'” Akhtar added.
Akhtar also alleged that the spinner was never given any credit for his outstanding performances and that was "totally uncalled" for.
"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.
Kaneria played 61 Test matches with 261 wickets under his belt at an average of 34.79 and is fourth on the list of bowlers with most Test wickets for Pakistan, behind only fast bowlers Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Imran Khan.
He represented the team only in 18 ODIs taking 15 wickets with an average over 45.
However, Kaneria was later banned for life from playing cricket in England and Wales by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his purported involvement in spot-fixing and after denying spot-fixing charges for six years, he pleaded guilty in 2018.
