Shahid Afridi denies allegations by Danish Kaneria, says he wants cheap fame

ISLAMABAD: Former cricketer Shahid Afridi denied all the allegations levelled against him by former leg spinner Danish Kaneria, saying that the latter is accusing him to get cheap fame and money.

Kaneria, in an interview with an Indian TV channel, alleged that Shahid Afridi ill-treated him for being a Hindu and forced him to convert to Islam.

Talking to Geo News, Afridi, denied all the allegations and said that he was trying to understand the religion at the time Kaneria is talking about.

Criticising the former leg-spinner, the 42-year-old said that Kaneria defamed the country’s name by spot-fixing and ended his career himself. “He is accusing me to get cheap fame and money,” added Afridi.

Afridi said that Kaneria was like a brother to him and he always supported him. “Why is he placing allegations against me now? Why did he not complain to the Pakistan Cricket Board and Habib Bank Limited about my behaviour towards him at that time?” asked the cricketer, adding that everyone knows about “his character”.

“He is giving interviews to our rival country and evoking religious sentiments,” adding that Kaneria did spot-fixing in England and was convicted there.

‘Forced me to convert to Islam’

Pakistan’s former leg spinner Danish Kaneria — who was indicted in the spot-fixing case — made serious allegations against Afridi of ill-treatment against him for being a Hindu.

The spinner also alleged that former PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt refused to accept his position, which ended his cricket career.

Kaneria said that former pacer Shoaib Akhtar was the first cricketer to speak about Afridi’s behaviour with him on national TV. He said that he always had issues with Afridi. “He always tried to bring me down,” added the former spinner.

Kaneria further said that “he and Afridi used to play for the same department and he used to keep me on the bench.” He added that there were senior players in the team like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shoaib Akhtar, Moin Khan, Rashid Latif and Younis Khan, but he only had issues with Afridi.

“Afridi was the captain of my department and used to bench me. However, when Younis Khan became the captain, he included me in all the games,” the former player said, adding that Afridi used to taunt him while practising.

He also said that former president Pervez Musharraf supported him at the time when Mohammad Yousuf converted to Islam, including other players in the team. “I was disturbed due to Shahid Afridi’s behaviour towards me and the other team players used to tell Afridi not to bother me,” added Kaneria.

He went on to say that Afridi supported the ban on him due to spot-fixing, however, he took Muhammad Amir’s side in the same case.

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