“My name is Danish Kaneria and I admit that I was guilty of the two charges brought against me by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2012.”
With those words, spoken at the start of an interview to Al Jazeera, Kaneria finally confessed to being guilty of the charges levelled against him more than half a decade ago.
In February 2012, during Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield’s trial for spot fixing, Kaneria was named in court as the man to have approached Westfield and introduced him to an illegal bookmaker called Anu Bhatt.
“There are people who will [tempt] you, but you have to be strong. Go to a right direction, rather [than taking] a short cut,” he cautioned.
Finally, Kaneria claimed that he had thus far denied everything because his father – who passed away in 2013 – was battling cancer. “His health was getting worse and worse. I didn’t have the courage to face him and tell him that I was wrong. He was a very, very proud guy. Very, very proud of me and what I did, representing Pakistan, representing my country,” said Kaneria.
“I want to apologise to my father, who has always been a role model for me, and I always have his photo with me.”
