Some Pak players treated Kaneria unfairly due to his religion: Shoaib Akhtar

Karachi, December 26

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Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has alleged that his teammate Danish Kaneria faced discrimination at the hands of a few Pakistani cricketers, who were reluctant to even eat with him because he was a Hindu.

Kaneria, only the second Hindu to play for Pakistan after his maternal uncle Anil Dalpat, took 261 wickets in 61 Tests at an average of 34.79. He also played 18 ODIs.

Akhtar made the revelation during a show called “Game on Hai” aired on PTV Sports.

“In my career I fought with two-three (in the team) when they started talking on regionalism. Things like ‘Who is from Karachi, Punjab or Peshawar’, that used to infuriate (me). So what if someone is a Hindu, he is doing well for the team,” Akhtar said. “They used to say ‘Sir ye yahan se khaana kaise le raha hai?’ (how is he taking food from this place)? The same Hindu won the Test for us against England. If he is taking a bagful of wickets for Pakistan, he should play. We could not have won the series without Kaneria’s effort. But not many gave him credit for that.” — PTI