Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Danish Parabha Shanker Kaneria
Born December 16, 1980, Karachi, Sind
Current age 27 years 265 days
Major teams Pakistan, Essex, Habib Bank Limited, Karachi, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, Pakistan Reserves
Nickname Nani-Danny
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Legbreak

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

260

6.84

545

47.70

ODIs

6.00

54.54

First-class

142

178

1090

10.18

List A

118

225

33*

7.75

Twenty20

4.87

84.78

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

14994

7458

220

7/77

12/94

33.90

2.98

68.1

ODIs

854

683

3/31

45.53

4.79

56.9

First-class

142

37853

18144

681

7/39

26.64

2.87

55.5

List A

118

5801

3987

184

5/21

21.66

4.12

31.5

Twenty20

690

797

4/22

18.11

6.93

15.6

Career statistics

Test debut

Pakistan v England at Faisalabad, Nov 29-Dec 3, 2000 scorecard

Last Test

India v Pakistan at Bangalore, Dec 8-12, 2007 scorecard

Test statistics

ODI debut

Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Sharjah, Oct 31, 2001 scorecard

Last ODI

Pakistan v Zimbabwe at Kingston, Mar 21, 2007 scorecard

ODI statistics

First-class debut

1998/99

Last First-class

Essex v Worcestershire at Colchester, Aug 20-23, 2008 scorecard

List A debut

1998/99

Last List A

Kent v Essex at Lord's, Aug 16, 2008 scorecard

Twenty20 debut

Lahore Eagles v Karachi Zebras at Lahore, Apr 27, 2005 scorecard

Last Twenty20

Essex v Kent at Southampton, Jul 26, 2008 scorecard

A tall, wiry legspinner, and only the second Hindu to play Test cricket for Pakistan (the first, his cousin Anil Dalpat, was briefly their wicketkeeper), Danish Kaneria mastered some vital skills at an early age. His stock ball drifts into the batsman and he has a googly as cloaked as any in recent history.. His whirling approach is reminiscent of Abdul Qadir, and he has now picked up the baton from Mushtaq Ahmed as Pakistan's premier legspinner. Kaneria was hyped as a secret weapon when England toured Pakistan in 2000-01, and though his impact in the Test series was minimal, he has since made his mark. Initially he did so against the lesser lights of Bangladesh, but also in a home Test against South Africa, when his five-for won Pakistan the match. Since then, he has confirmed himself as a man capable of winning Tests, leading Pakistan to wins against Sri Lanka in Karachi in 2004 and against the West Indies in Jamaica in 2005. In between, two tours - to Australia and the graveyard of legspin, India - became arduous but satisfying stepping stones to the big league. In each series he outscalped the leading legspinners of our age, first Shane Warne, then Anil Kumble and although Pakistan lost the first series comprehensively, Kaneria's 19 wickets were crucial in securing a morale-boosting 1-1 draw in India. He struggled through much of 2006, not to take wickets, but to take them swiftly enough. It didn't help that he had no sustained support from the other end, as Pakistan suffered heavily from injuries to fast bowlers. But he ended the year upbeat with an improved performance in South Africa. It was enough to earn him a surprise recall into Pakistan's ODI squad for the 2007 World Cup, having not been a part of their plans in the last three years. It didn't last long, as limited to a couple of matches, he was swiftly dropped from the ODI squad soon after but returned to the team for the Test series against South Africa in October 2007.
Kamran Abbasi (October 2007)

Aug 16, 2008

Danish Kaneria makes his mark by trapping Geraint Jones lbw © Getty Images

Aug 16, 2008

Danish Kaneria is pumped after removing former team-mate Azhar Mahmood © Getty Images

Jul 5, 2008

Danish Kaneria celebrates taking the wicket of Darren Gough © Getty Images

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