'Happened to me Every Day': Former Spinner Shares Old Video to Level Serious Allegations on Pakistan Cricket Team

Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad courted controversy after offering religious advise to Sri Lanka great Tillakaratne Dilshan during an ODI between the two teams back in 2014.

The video of that incident had gone viral with Shehzad being widely criticised for his unsolicited religious advise.

As players of the two teams headed back to their respective locker rooms, Shehzad got hold of Dilshan and said, “if you are a non-Muslim and you turn Muslim, no matter whatever you do in your life, (you will go) straight to heaven.”

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Dilshan’s reply was inaudible but it seems Shehzad didn’t like what was said as he fired back, “then be ready for the fire.”

Nine years after that infamous incident, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has shared the video on his account on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) and insinuated that he was bombarded with advise to convert to Islam.

“Be it the dressing room, the playground or the dining table, this happened to me every day,” Kaneria wrote.

Notably, Kaneria is one of the few non-muslim cricketers to have represented Pakistan cricket team at the international level. He was the second Hindu cricketer after Anil Dalpat to play for Pakistan.

In another clip, Kaneria took a shot at fast bowling legend Waqar Younis for his remark during the 2021 T20 World Cup match between India and Pakistan.

“Performing Namaz in front of Kafir Hindus was more important than the match. That’s the problem!” Kaneria wrote.

Waqar had said that watching Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter offer Namaz “in front of Hindus was very special to him”. He later apologised for his remarks.

This isn’t the first time that Kaneria has spoken of discrimination and mistreatment due to him being a Hindu during his time with Pakistan cricket team.

Pakistan pace legend Shoaib Akhtar in the past has backed Kaneria’s allegations claiming eyebrows were raised when the former spinner would eat with other players.

“Captain would raise eyebrows about him eating with us or taking the food from the same table. I told him that you could be the captain but your conduct is despicable. This guy (Kaneria) is chalking up so many wickets to win matches for us and you’re treating him like this,” Akhtar had said on a cricket show titled Game on Hai.