Kaneria’s presence in foreign tournament creates controversy

Banned leg-spinner Danish Kaneria’s presence in the recently concluded 36th edition of the Royal Bangkok Sports Club (RBSC) International Cricket Sixes 2020, held in Bangkok, led to a new controversy as several active Pakistan cricketers were also part of the tournament.

Left-hand batsman Umar Amin, pacer Mir Hamza, all-rounders Anwar Ali and Hussain Talat were some of the international cricketers, who participated in the event.

Kaneria was banned for life in 2012 from all forms of cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), after being found guilty of corruption in relation to the spot-fixing case in county cricket. As part of the ban, the leg-spinner is not allowed to participate in any tournament around the world, which is organised by the approval of International Cricket Council (ICC).

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After claiming innocence for six years, Kaneria finally admitted to his involvement in the spot-fixing scandal in October 2018.

According to sources, when several Pakistani teams came to know that Kaneria would be representing an Indian club in the tournament, they objected to his participation and informed the organisers about their concerns. Pakistani teams held the view that allowing Kaneria to participate will have a negative impact on tournament’s image and can put other cricketers in trouble with the world’s cricket governing body. Two Pakistani sides even threatened to boycott the event.

As a result, the organisers asked the Indian club to remove Kaneria from their team, but instead the club chose to opt out of the entire tournament.

Kaneria was unavailable for comment, whereas the participating Pakistani teams confirmed the aforementioned incident.