After Facing Huge Backlash, Shoaib Akhtar Opens Up On Danish Kaneria Row

Former Pakistan pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar has hit back at those who are criticising him for his recent comments on his ex-teammate Danish Kaneria. In a sensational revelation, Shoaib Akhtar revealed that few of his teammates mistreated Kaneria because he was a Hindu. He also said that the former leg-spinner was never given the credit he deserved.

Kaneria backed up Shoaib Akhtar’s comments and called on other players to come forward and confirm this. But unsurprisingly, a number of Pakistani players slammed the two for their statement. The likes of  Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Javed Miandad denied that there were  any instances of religious discrimination within the team.

Also Read: Never Sold Pakistan For Money, Says Danish Kaneria In Emotional Video

Shoaib Akhtar reacts:

With the matter now getting out of hands, Shoaib Akhtar, on Saturday, decided to talk about it. In the wake of the widespread backlash he has faced from his compatriots, the legendary pacer took to YouTube to clarify his earlier remarks. He said that while he stand by his comments on Danish Kaneria, his words have been blown out of proportion.

“For the past two days, a big controversy has been created around me, and I was listening and watching all this, and what I wanted to do was to carefully listen and understand what was being said by people, so I was taking my sweet time,” Akhtar said on his YouTube channel as quoted by PakPassion.

“There are such players everywhere in the world who pass racist comments. I am hoping that religious tourism opens and there is even a place of worship for Hindus in Kashmir that the PM Sahib would like to open up as well.

“People tried to make this into a matter of religion and to politicize this. This is all very childish and childlike behaviour – we are coming to 2020, and this is not 1920 where you can instigate a religious war by making up news. People have become much wiser now.

“I don’t think what I said was wrong, what I said was that some guys had said this and I snubbed them and said I would throw them out if they said this again. [The] reason I said that was Danish had won many games for Pakistan and he should have been given credit for that.

“Whatever I said about Danish Kaneria, I stand by that statement. I will never back down from that and nor am I [the person] who backs down from such things,” he added.

Danish Kaneria, meanwhile, is the fourth highest wicket-taker for Pakistan in Test. With 261 wickets to his name, he is only behind Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Imran Khan in the list. No other spinner from Pakistan has taken more Test wickets than Kaneria. The leg-spinner, however, is facing a lot of trouble and is unemployed from the last one decade after being banned for life for spot-fixing scandal.

Here is the video posted on Shoaib Akhtar’s YouTube channel: