Shoaib Akhtar Says Comments on Danish Kaneria "Taken Completely Out of Context"!

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has issued a clarification on his statement regarding Danish Kaneria saying his allegation that many did not want the former leg-spinner to be part of the team because of his religious faith were 'taken completely out of context.'

He also said discrimination on the basis of race was never a culture in the team.

"I watched the mess that was made of my statement, which was taken completely out of context," Akhtar said in a tweet attaching his YouTube video on the matter.

"There is unwritten contract that we got to respect every player no matter what. But there was some hesitation shown by a few players. This is not our team's code of conduct. This is just 1-2 players' and there are these kinds of players all over the world who pass racist comments," he said in the video.

"We, as a society, should realize that this should be nipped from the bud. I am a product of this society and I did that. I had told them I will throw you out if you talk like this (about Kaneria's faith). Because this is not our culture."

"We as a nation did not let such discriminatory thoughts prevail. We stopped it there. We have improved a lot as a society in the last 10-15 years."