Danish Parabha Shanker Kaneria (Urdu: دانش پرابھا شنکر کنیریا) (born 16 December, 1980), or Dinesh Kineria, popularly known as Danish Kaneria is a Pakistani cricketer (leg spin bowler). He was born in Karachi. He made his international debut in 2000 against England at Faisalabad. Kaneria is very much in the tradition of Pakistan leg spin bowlers and possesses the variety of a fine googly and the flipper. Good control over length and willingness to bowl long spells is what marks him out as a bowler to watch out for.
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Source: [1], March 14 2007 |
Kaneria had the art of spin built in him since childhood. However he always wanted to become a fast bowler but his uncle Cyrus Irani, guided him towards spin bowling. Irani, used to take him to the Karachi Parsi Institute and introduced him to some talented players, where he got a chance to perform and succeed through to the professional level. Kaneria always praises the efforts made by Cyrus towards the success of his career.
In January 2002, he took 7 wickets for 77 runs in the Test match against Bangladesh in Bangladesh, which are his career best figures so far in Test cricket. Earlier, in the same season, he had taken 6 wickets in an innings twice against Bangladesh during Bangladesh's tour of Pakistan. In October 2004, he took 10 wickets against Sri Lanka at Karachi, with a second-innings haul of 7/109, setting up Pakistan's 6-wicket win. More recently he has played an important role in Pakistan's Test wins over West Indies, England and India.
In one-day international cricket, he has been economical so far with an economy rate under 4.5 runs per over. His best bowling in ODIs came against New Zealand in Sri Lanka in 2003. He also had a good series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah just before that. He also impressed in English county cricket taking 32 wickets in seven championship matches for Essex in 2005. Although unable to play English county cricket in 2006 due to Pakistan's tour of England, it has been confirmed that Kaneria will return to play for Essex in 2007.
Success in the one day arena has been more elusive, Pakistan usually opting to play the two spinning all-rounders Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik instead. While not particularly fluent with the bat, he does chip in with useful innings occasionally, frustrating opponents seeking to swiftly wrap Pakistan's innings. His fielding can be best described as unreliable or sometimes even comical.
Despite representing the Muslim-majority Country of Pakistan, Kaneria is a devout Hindu and is of Marwari heritage. He is only the second Hindu to play Test cricket for Pakistan (the first, his cousin Anil Dalpat, was briefly their wicketkeeper), though Christians have also represented Pakistan.