Danish Kaneria blasts Shahid Afridi for anti-India remarks, backs Yuvraj and Harbhajan

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria has come out in support of a number of Indian cricketers including Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Suresh Raina. In fact, to showcase his support for Yuvraj Singh and co., Danish Kaneria blasted former teammate Shahid Afridi for his recent speech in which he targeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his recent visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Despite serving a life-ban from cricket due to his involvement in spot-fixing, Danish Kaneria opted to hit back at former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi for poisoning minds, stating that Shahid Afridi should, 'think before he speaks'.

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Danish Kaneria slams Shahid Afridi

While speaking to India TV, Danish Kaneria urged Shahid Afridi to 'quit cricket' completely if he wants to join politics and refrain from all ties that link him to the sport. "If he wants to join politics then he should quit all ties with cricket." said the 39-year-old. Kaneria further added that speeches similar to the one made by Afridi are one of the prime reasons why Pakistani players are looked down upon in the cricketing world, portraying a 'negative image' of cricket in the country to the rest of the world.

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Danish Kaneria further went on to virtually call Shahid Afridi 'double-faced'. Kaneria admitted that Afridi had initially pleaded for support from Indian cricketers including Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh but later spoke ill about the Indian stars by turning on them. Kaneria questioned the relationship between Shahid Afridi and the Indian cricketers adding, 'What sort of friendship is this?'.

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Kaneria is still only the second-ever Hindu player to represent Pakistan on an international level and he touched upon the resumption of sport between India and Pakistan despite the tense atmosphere surrounding the two nations. Kaneria remained positive over the resumption of cricket between the two neighbouring countries. Kaneria played 61 Tests and 18 ODIs for Pakistan picking 261 and 15 wickets respectively across the two formats.

How Indian cricketers responded to Shahid Afridi's speech

Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh have all hit back at Shahid Afridi for his upsetting comments over Indian PM Narendra Modi. Yuvraj Singh revealed that he made an appeal on Afridi's behalf but was once bitten twice shy. "I made an appeal on your behest for the sake of humanity...but never again." Yuvraj wrote on this Twitter post. Harbhajan Sing replied to Yuvraj's post with 'NEVER AGAIN' in block letters. Suresh Raina also took a dig at Afridi following his speech. Former Indian opening batsmen and a current Lok Sabha member Gautam Gambhir also tore into his former cricketing opponent Shahid Afridi after the Pakistani's hateful comments.

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