‘It’s shameful, shows reality of Pakistan,’ Gautam Gambhir reacts on Danish Kaneria revelations
Gautam Gambhir said the Danish Kaneria incident shows the real face of Pakistan and it is a shame that a player who has represented the country in so many matches had to go through this
Reacting strongly on the revelations made by former Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria, that came to light recently, former India opener-turned-BJP MP Gautam Gambhir criticised the behaviour of players who discriminated against Kaneria. Gambhir opined that the Kaneria incident shows the actual face of the country. Gambhir’s comment came a day after former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar revealed the discrimination former teammate and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria faced in Pakistan dressing room for being a Hindu.
“This is the actual face of Pakistan. We had Mohammad Azharuddin as captain of our side and he captained us in 80-90 Test matches. This shows the reality of Pakistan, they have a sportsman (Imran Khan) as their Prime Minister, still, people in their country have to go through this. Kaneria played 60 matches for Pakistan, and it is shameful,” former cricketer Gambhir told reporters.
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“India gave so much respect to Mohammad Kaif, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel. In fact, Patel is my close friend. We always played as a team to make our country proud. But the reports coming in from Pakistan are really unfortunate,” Gambhir said.
A video of Pakistani pacer Akhtar has gone viral on social media in which he had said that players of the Pakistani team refused to eat food with Kaneria just because he was a Hindu.
Following the revelation made by Akhtar, Kaneria soon released a statement, urging the Pakistan Prime Minister to help him in the current scenario.
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“My life is not in good shape and I approached many individuals in Pakistan and around the world to resolve my issues. Yet, I have not received any help. Issues of many cricketers of Pakistan have been resolved though. I gave everything possible for Pakistan as a cricketer and I am very proud of it. And in the hour of need, I am positive that the people of Pakistan will help,” Kaneria had said.
“I need support from all legendary players of Pakistan including Prime Minister Imran Khan, cricket administrators of Pakistan and other countries to get me out the mess. Please come forward and help me out,” Kaneria’s statement read.
Kaneria, only the second Hindu to play for Pakistan after his maternal uncle Anil Dalpat, took 261 wickets in 61 Tests at an average of 34.79. He also played 18 ODIs..
(With ANI inputs)