“Namaskar. Salam. Jai Shri Ram”, Danish Kaneria’s career may have been destroyed, his spirit remains unbroken

‘Namaste, Salam, Jai Shri Ram’

This is not a precursor to some game show, but the way ex Pakistani cricketer Danish Kaneria greeted everyone in his video on YouTube. Once again in the limelight after ex cricketer and teammate Shoaib Akhtar revealed the level of discrimination the leg spinner had to face from his teammates for his ethnicity, Danish Kaneria confirmed the allegations posed by Shoaib Akhtar and thanked him for standing by his side.

In his YouTube video, Danish Kaneria said, “In context to what Shoaib Bhai has said, I’ve represented Pakistan at the highest levels, and have even earned them laurels in various Tests, as you’ve seen before. Whatever Shoaib Bhai has said is true, and he didn’t ignore it, but I never cared about such thoughts and focused only on my cricketing skills. I never let such negative thoughts come to my mind. I’m a proud Pakistani, and I’m a proud Hindu, and I’m proud of the fact that I represented my country.”

For those unaware, Danish Kaneria is a former leg spinner who is only the second Hindu after Anil Dalpat to have played for the Pakistani international cricket team. He is the highest wicket taker for Pakistan as a spinner, and has 261 international Test wickets to his credit. He was banned for life by ECB after he was accused of spot fixing.

Recently Shoaib Akhtar had taken everyone by storm, when he revealed that Danish Kaneria had to face almost inhuman discrimination from his teammates on the account of his ethnicity. To quote his observations at a cricket chat show ‘Game on Hai’, “I had a fight with two or three players. I said that even if someone is a Hindu, he will play. And that same Hindu won us the test series… some people asked the reason why he (Danish) is having meals with us. I told all of them that I am going to pick you up from right here and throw you away. You would be a captain, but on your own property. He is providing 6-6 wickets. In England, it had been Danish and Shami who had won the game for people.”

Danish also confirmed the same as he opened up about his tragic experience on Twitter. He said, “Today, I saw the interview of the legendary bowler Shoaib Akhtar. I personally thank him for telling the truth. At the same time, I am grateful to all the players who supported me wholeheartedly as a cricketer. Also thankful to media, genuine cricket administrators, and citizens of Pakistan who supported me regardless of my religious affiliation.”

With that, Danish Kaneria revealed a facet of his personality, wherein despite his career being destroyed at the altar of religious fundamentalism, he has refused to budge from his stance, or even go soft on his religious identity, unlike Yousuf Yohana, who converted to Islam when he was pressurized by his teammates. It is no surprise that Pakistan has been extremely regressive on the issue of religious freedom, which is visible in their approach towards the religious minorities. What happened with Danish Kaneria was just the tip of the iceberg; religious fundamentalism is so rampant in Pakistani sports that anyone not abiding by the diktats was either sidelined or simply evicted from the team, including the lines of Shoaib Akhtar and Younis Khan.

Moreover, Danish Kaneria also exposed the hypocrisy of people like Yousuf Yohana, who was compelled to convert to Islam by fellow players like Saeed Anwar, who has transformed into a hard lined Islamist. On the issue of the minorities being maltreated by Pakistani players, Yousuf had tweeted, “I condemn the comments made about discrimination regarding players from the minority in the Pakistan Team. I have been a member of the team & I’ve always had a lot of love & support from the team, the management & the fans! Pakistan Zindabad.”

The revelations of Shoaib Akhtar have revealed the personalities of Danish Kaneria and Yousuf Yohana explicitly. While one has no qualms in asserting his identity even if his career stands destroyed, the other is a shameless hypocrite who refuses to stand by his own faith, and lies through his teeth.