Pakistan Cricket Players: Danish Kaneria

Danish Kaneria biography

source (google.com.pk)

Danish Parabha Shanker Kaneria (born 16 December 1980 in Karachi) is a Pakistani leg spin bowler. He made his international debut in 2000 against England at Faisalabad. Kaneria has continued the tradition of Pakistani leg spin bowlers and possesses a very well disguised googly. However his failure to develop an effective straighter delivery has prevented him from reaching his full potential. In January 2002, he took 7 wickets for 77 runs in the Test match against Bangladesh in Bangladesh, which are his career best figures so far in Test cricket. Earlier, in the same season, he had taken 6 wickets in an innings twice against Bangladesh during Bangladesh's tour of Pakistan. In October 2004, he took 10 wickets against Sri Lanka at Karachi, with a second-innings haul of 7/109, setting up Pakistan's 6-wicket win. More recently he has played an important role in Pakistan's Test wins over West Indies, England and India. In One Day International cricket, he has been economical so far with an economy rate under 4.8 runs per over. His best bowling in ODIs came against New Zealand in Sri Lanka in 2003. He also had a good series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah just before that. He also impressed in English county cricket taking 32 wickets in seven championship matches for Essex in 2005. Although unable to play English county cricket in 2006 due to Pakistan's tour of England, it has been confirmed that Kaneria would return to play for Essex in 2007. Success in the one day arena has been more elusive, Pakistan usually opting to play the two spinning all-rounders Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik instead. Despite representing the Muslim-majority Country of Pakistan, Kaneria is a devout Hindu and is of Marwari heritage. He is only the second Hindu to play Test cricket for Pakistan (the first, his cousin Anil Dalpat, was briefly their wicketkeeper).

Danish Kaneria, the most successful spin bowler in Pakistan's Test history, has been banned for life from all involvement in the game by an England and Wales Cricket Board panel who regard him "as a grave danger to the game of cricket".

"We must take every appropriate step to protect our game from his corrupt activities," said Gerard Elias QC, who chaired the three-man panel. Kaneria was found guilty of luring his young Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield into a spot-fixing scam in 2009, when he was paid £6,000 for bowling badly to order in a low-profile one-day game at Durham.

Westfield served a two-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to the offence this year and provided much of the evidence against Kaneria. Westfield has also been given a harsher cricketing punishment than had been expected – a five-year ban – although he may be allowed to play club cricket from 2015.

The penalties have been administered by the ECB, but apply in most cricketing countries, including Pakistan, through a mutual recognition of sanctions introduced by the International Cricket Council two years ago.

"We have no doubt that this is a cancer which must be rooted out of the game of cricket," said Elias. "As a senior international player of repute he plainly betrayed the trust reposed in him in his dealings with fellow team-mates and we regard his persistent efforts to recruit spot fixers as being a seriously aggravating factor in his case.

"Kaneria has made no admission, has shown no remorse and sought to cast blame on other plainly innocent persons. In all these circumstances, we regard Danish Kaneria as a grave danger to the game of cricket and we must take every appropriate step to protect our game from his corrupt activities. Accordingly, we are unanimously of the view that the only appropriate sanction in relation to both charges is one of suspension for life and that is the sanction we impose. This means from today Danish Kaneria is suspended from any involvement in the playing, organisation or administration of any cricket under the jurisdiction of the ECB." Kaneria later told Sky that he was not guilty and would prove his innocence.

Kaneria was arrested with Westfield in May 2010, but was released without charge and has continued to play and protest his innocence ever since. He appeared at the hearing this week to claim that Westfield's evidence was unreliable. But in finding him guilty of both corruption and bringing the game into disrepute, Elias said: "We consider that in many respects the evidence of Danish Kaneria simply does not stand up to scrutiny and is plainly lies." Kaneria's lawyers had already signalled his intention to appeal before the punishment was handed down. Essex said they welcomed the verdict but would make no further comment pending any appeal.

Westfield, who is 24, has escaped a life ban because he committed the offence before the ECB's anti-corruption education programme had begun, and because "he was targeted and pressurised by a senior team-mate", and because after pleading guilty to the ECB charge he had shown "some courage" in providing evidence against Kaneria.

That allowed the panel to release a detailed account of the chain of events through which Kaneria, according to the ECB, corrupted Westfield, initially introducing him to two Asian men. One of them was Anu Bhatt, an Indian businessman with whom Kaneria had been acquainted since 2005 – and from whom he had been warned away by the ICC's senior anti-corruption investigator in 2008. It was claimed Kaneria was there when one of the men offered Westfield money to bowl badly in the match at Durham, and was in regular contact with Bhatt over the subsequent days.

He was there again in the north-east the night before the match, and when Westfield received the £6,000 in a parcel in Kaneria's car back in Chelmsford after the deed had been done. Kaneria took 261 wickets in 61 Test appearances between 2000 and 2010, making him Pakistan's fourth most successful bowler behind Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.

A skilful leg-spin bowler, he was only the second Hindu to play for Pakistan, and became a popular overseas player with Essex in six separate stints between 2004 and 2010. But now he hasentered cricket's hall of shame with other players who have received life bans for corruption, including Hansie Cronje, Mohammad Azharuddin and Salim Malik, plus his former Pakistan team-mates Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif.