On Monday former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali asked Shoaib Akhtar to share the names of players who according to him humiliated former leg-spinner Danish Kaneria and they did not eat with him for being a Hindu. After Akhtar’s comment in an interview on a television channel in December 2019, Kaneria, who has played in 61 Tests and 18 ODIs for Pakistan, had confirmed the allegations also. He then said that only a few players like Akhtar, former captain Inzamam Ul Haq, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf had supported him at that time.
“I am amazed that Kaneria is saying that he will reveal the names later. Shoaib doesn’t need any publicity. He has been a fan favourite and will always be. He doesn’t need any fame. But Shoaib should reveal the names of the players,” Basit was quoted as saying by the Times of India. “Something like this (discrimination based on religion) never happened in my playing days.”
Read here: Dale Steyn Keen on Leading South Africa Bowling Attack in the T20 World Cup
However, last year in December, Danish Kaneria had even made fresh allegations against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the government citing that the board did not help him after he was being banned from the sport. Kaneria, who has 261 Test wickets in his name, was banned for whole life from any cricket which comes under the jurisdiction of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as he was being found guilty of corruption by a disciplinary panel in his involvement to the spot-fixing scandal which also involved Mervyn Westfield.
“I played for 10 years with determination and hard work. I didn’t make excuses that I have a back injury nor did I took early retirement. I used to bowl 30-40 overs in a day. My fingers used to bled, I gave blood to the cricket pitch but I didn’t give any chance to anyone to replace me,” he said. “I also played county cricket in all three formats and performed at the highest level but here I have been labelled only as a Test cricketer.”
“To those who are saying I did this for cheap fame and for my Youtube channel, I want to remind them that I did not do it, Shoaib Akhtar spoke about discrimination against me on national television,” he concluded.
