Pakistan's star leg-spinner and only Hindu player Danish Kaneria has been banished from playing cricket on the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) because of corruption charges. On Wednesday the International Cricket Council (ICC) urged the measure to be implemented worldwide.
The 31-year-old star player was caught in a match-fixing scandal with former Essex team-mate Mervyn Westfield in 2009 in which bowler Westfield,25, was paid to intentionally bowl badly. Westfield faced four months in prison and a five year suspension from playing the sport, although the Judge found Kaneria to be at the apex of the scam, he did not receive a prison sentence due to insufficient evidence.
However, both players were charged with breaching ECB regulations. The ECB panel released a statement saying, "Kaneria has made no admission, has shown no remorse and sought to cast blame on other plainly innocent persons...We regard him as a grave danger to the game of cricket and we must take every appropriate step to protect our game from his corrupt activities," as reported by ESPN Sports.
ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told BBC News, "I will ask the board to remind all members to put in place appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the sanctions imposed on both players in this case are appropriately recognized and respected outside of the ECB's domestic jurisdiction."
The second Hindu to ever play for Pakistan faces a life-time ban from the world of cricket. Reports suggest that cricket playing nations tend to agree with ban.
