Gautam Gambhir, on Friday, said Shoaib Akhtar’s comment that his teammate Danish Kaneria was mistreated by a few Pakistani players for being a Hindu shows the “real face of Pakistan.”
“We had captains like Mohammad Azharuddin leading India for such a long time. This is happening in a country led by Imran Khan, who himself was a cricketer,” Gambhir said, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The former Indian opener said that Kaneria had played Test cricket for his country. “This is really shameful” if despite that he’s being made to face such “torture.”
“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 added, saying: “This shows the real face of Pakistan.”
The cricketer-turned-politician also said if a sportsperson could face such treatment, “one can only imagine what Hindus, Sikhs, and other minorities have to go through (in Pakistan).”
Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar had recently revealed that Kaneria faced discrimination in the hands of a few Pakistani cricketers, who were reluctant to even eat with him because he is a Hindu. Kaneria also supported Akhtar’s claim while speaking to India Today.
VIDEO: Shoaib Akhtar makes a sensational revelation. He says Pakistan players refused to eat food with Danish Kaneria because he was a Hindu. He was never given any credit for his performances and was constantly humiliated because of his religion. pic.twitter.com/zinGtzcvym
— Navneet Mundhra (@navneet_mundhra) December 26, 2019
Kaneria, the only 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 and picked 15 wickets.
