Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has accused Shahid Afridi of mistreatment as well as of discrimination. Kaneria has also alleged that Afridi plotted against him from the beginning and blamed the all-rounder for his short-lived white-ball career. Kaneria has been very vocal about the discrimination and wrong he suffered for being a Hindu in the Pakistan dressing room ever since Shoaib Akhtar in a TV show revealed that the national team mistreated Kaneria for being a Hindu. Most recently, Kaneria blamed Afridi and said that legendary all-rounder and former Pakistan skipper has been against him “from the beginning.” Shahid Afridi Speaks Out on Kashmir Again, Says ‘It Does Not Take a Religious Belief to Feel the Agony of Kashmiris’.

“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,” Kaneria told Sports Tak. Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal Involved in Ugly Twitter War Over Leg-Spinner’s Allegedly Failed Sledging of Brian Lara During 2006 Pakistan vs West Indies Test Match.

Kaneria also recounted his role in 2009 spot-fixing scandal in English County Cricket and said that he regretted his decision (of asking former Essex teammate Mervyn Westfield to concede 12 runs in an over during a One-Day match against Durham) wand was guilty of why he did. “I made a mistake and I pleaded guilty. I have paid for the mistake,” Kaneria added. “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 also mentioned how the ban has rendered him jobless and without a livelihood. “I regret it a lot. The regret is that had I informed the authorities that time then today this would not be happening.” He claimed that he has repeatedly called on the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for help and for a job but none have responded. Kaneria currently runs a YouTube channel and is dependent on his elder brother to run his family.

“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,” he said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 16, 2020 03:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).