Mumbai: Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria is now looking upto the new chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to overturn his ban imposed by the England and Wales Cricket Cricket Board (ECB) for match-fixing.
“I have tried all avenues to overturn the ban as I am innocent. Even wrote to Pakistan Prime Minister, but didn’t my cause. Now I will get in touch with the new ICC chairman (Shashank Manohar) and explain my position,” Kaneroa told a select group of journalists in Mumbai, en route to Nashik, on Thursday.
Kaneria, who has roots in India, visited the country on Sunday and on Thursday headed towards Shani Shignapur temple in Nashik and Sai Baba temple in Shirdi to seek blessings. Kaneria was born in a Hindu family in Pakistan whereas his roots remain in Gujarat’s Surat city.
The speculation were rife that a few days back that Kaneria was shifting his base to India, following his faith that he would have got better support while fighting for himself being a Hindu. His appeals to Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in April this year was rejected as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refused to help him in the case.
Kaneria, who represented Pakistan in 61 tests and 18 ODIs, was imposed a life ban in 2012 by the ECB for spot-fixing and has since then also lost as many as two appeals to have the ban overturned.
The 35-year-old leggie has claimed 261 Test wickets alongside 18 ODIs scalps in brief stay in the international arena before being banned. The cricketer, who is in India alongwith his wife, children and mother, is entangled in another legal issue in the Sindh High Court where the ECB has filed a petition for recovery of fines and costs of the case totaling over 200,000 pounds.
Moreover, he was asked by the court to furnish his bank details in the last hearing making the matter worse for the troubled tweaker. Kaneria is in India along with his wife and mother and the family has maintained that it’s simply a religious tour. But news is surfacing that the spinner is in India in search of a livelihood following his unsuccessful appeals to the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Shariff.
Kaneria, In his letters sent to the Pakistan PM and other government authorities and ministers, has pleaded his case simply on humanitarian grounds. If his earlier statements are anything to go by, both the PCB and the ECB have maintained their life ban on him though his involvement in match-fixing is yet to be proven in a court of law. The verdicts prevented him from earning his livelihood.