Shoaib Akhtar says Danish Kaneria was mistreated by several Pakistani teammates for being Hindu

Danish was the second Hindu player after  Anil Dalpat to play for the national side.

"During my career I fought with two to three of my teammates when they started talking on regionalism. Things like 'who is from Karachi, Punjab or Peshawar', that used to infuriate. So what if someone is a Hindu, he is doing well for the team," Akhatr was quoted as saying in a chat show.

"They used to say 'sir ye yaaha se khaana kaise le raha hain'(how is he taking food from this place)?" he was quoted as saying in the video by the media.

"The same Hindu clinched the Test for us against England. If he is taking a bagful of wickets for Pakistan, he should play. We could not have won the series without Kaneria's big effort. But not many gave him credit for that," the former Pakistani pacer said.

The video of his comments has gone viral online.

"I told him that you could be the captain but your conduct is despicable. This person (Kaneria) is taking so many wickets to win matches for the national side and you're treating him like this," he said.

Meanwhile, Danish said Akhtar's claims were true.

Whatever Shoaib bhai has said is absolutely true. I am extremely thankful to Shoaib Akhtar. He is a big player. I have been saying this for a long time what has been happening with me. I have got support from only  Inzamam ul Haq, Md Yusuf and Younis Khan. Rest did not help me. There were many big players. I am not naming them now but will come out with their names shortly in my Youtube channel," Danish told Republic TV.

In his playing career, Danish picked up 261 wickets in 61 Tests at an average of 34.79.