Kaneria has been Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker for four years running, but he certainly isn’t the bowler he was in 2005. He has just been demoted a rung in the team’s contracts and isn’t quite sure of his role in the side. He’s not giving up just yet

Osman Samiuddin31-Jan-2008

‘If I had better support, it would’ve been different’ © AFP
As 2007 ended, Danish Kaneria was worried and not just because the country washeaded for the abyss. Worried despite being one of only three players to play all ofPakistan’s Tests last year, despite being their leading Test wicket-taker (for thefourth year running), and despite having bowled over a third of all Pakistan’s overs in2007.”With due respect, I get more respect at Essex,” he said presciently just before2008. “I play limited-overs and Twenty20. They love me like crazy, so I give themeffort. I do it for Pakistan as well, but sometimes my heart is broken, because forall I do for Pakistan, what do I get? I am in category B for central contracts, beinga senior player. People who started after me are in A category. In ODIs I don’t evenget a chance.”Turns out he had reason to be worried. In 2008, Kaneria was again overlooked for anODI series, against Zimbabwe, which says little for his future in the format. He wasdemoted in the central contracts to category C, the same tier as Fawad Alam, who hasplayed two ODIs. A financially and otherwise rewarding county future with Essexwas also under threat, after the PCB belatedly recognised the need to protect playersfrom burnout and injury.Selectors privately and persistently muttered Kaneria wasn’t flighting the ball enough;an unknown leggie from Swabi in the NWFP played, and was heralded, against Zimbabwe in a tour match, a sly kick up Kaneria’s backside. If he didn’t get the message then, he sure as hell didn’t miss it as the only 51-Test, 220-wicket invitee to a specialist two-week camp for spinners overseen by renowned.opening batsman Mudassar Nazar. Tough love, yes; just more tough than loving.But some stirring needed. Top of the wickets pile he has been, but overthe last two years they have cost him 40-plus and arrived every 13.2 overs. Thosenumbers don’t hide much and yet don’t fully reveal the true depth of his struggleeither.He just hasn’t looked a consistent threat, falling quickly into predictable, repetitive rhythms. He bowls good balls, but few wicket-taking ones; the longer he goes wicketless, the more he experiments and fidgets, and he rarely gets one early. The fizz, in short, has gone.Not that he accepts it readily. Pitches are blamed first, particularly Indian ones,from where he had arrived with 12 very expensive wickets. “My performance was okay.I was Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker and I was second overall. If I had better support, it would’ve been different,” he reasons.So you are happy with your bowling?”There can be improvement. In 2005, I was the highest wicket-taker in India. Thistime people asked Kumble about my threat and he said we have a solution. The wickets were slow without bounce or spin,” he sidesteps.Then follows what is every spinner’s clinching defense against poor performances inIndia: Shane Warne’s nightmare experiences. “Look at Warne. I have more wicketsagainst India than he does.” Point noted, and almost entirely true: they have thesame number of Indian wickets (43), but Kaneria has taken them in three Tests fewer(11), at a less poor average (41 to 47) and a better strike-rate.But only later, to an unrelated query, does he acknowledge that, yes, he may be goingthrough a dip. Even then it is qualified. “Bad patches come to all players, to thegreatest like Wasim, Waqar, Sachin. The best emerge from it. I’m going through a badpatch right now but even then my performances aren’t completely zero. I just needmore support.”In that last plea lies a large part of the Kaneria conundrum. Since the summer of2006, Pakistan have played with joke pace attacks, forever missing not one but atleast two top bowlers. Kaneria has played every Test, flitting uncertainly betweenshock and stock bowler. Which is he?Two years ago it didn’t bother him much. “If I bowl 50 overs in an innings, thenwill I not give away 100 runs for my wickets? As a leggie I attack, so runs will bescored. But I take wickets, which is how you win matches,” he said before Englandarrived in 2005. But, as he points out now, support was solid back then: Shoaib Akhtar,Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmed and Abdul Razzaq.”There is confusion over my role now,” he admits. “When Inzamam was captain, he usedme as a strike bowler, a wicket-taker. Unfortunately, this time I was both an attacking and defensive bowler. All responsibility was under me. We didn’t have another bowler to stop runs or take wickets, so I ended up doing both.”Sami is going through a bad patch and we’re missing Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif. Along with a fit Shoaib, these are guys who perform, and with them [around] it’s a different ball game.”Misfortune of all misfortunes is that when Kaneria has bowled well, Kamran Akmal has been keeping wicket. Conservatively, Akmal has fluffed 15 chances off Kaneria alone. Thus comes true Rashid Latif’s observation that a legspinner owes at least half hisprowess to the keeper.”Warne had the best in Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist,” Kaneria begins diplomatically.”Unfortunately, chances have been missed and others tell me how many wickets I’velost. No problem, everyone goes through a bad patch. Kamran is having a few problems,but if he had taken them, I would have 30 more wickets. No regrets, it is part of thegame. It’s a bad time right now but let’s hope he gets better.” He just hasn’t looked a consistent threat, falling quickly into predictable, repetitive rhythms. He bowls good balls, but few wicket-taking ones; the longer he goes wicketless, the more he experiments and fidgets, and he rarely gets one early. The fizz, in short, has goneRight from his days as a short, chubby youngster at Karachi’s St Patrick’s School,Kaneria has been fiercely individualistic. He is justifiably proud that nobody has helpedhim get to where he is today. Admirably, he has never, privately or publicly, madean issue of his religion, but understandably, perhaps, being Pakistan’s first realHindu star has added to a sense of pride.Maybe that is why he never felt the need for a mentor, a sounding board. “I’veplayed over 50 Tests and done it as a lone spinner. Younis Khan is great as healways has tips and is willing to give ideas. But it doesn’t make a difference. Ihave enough experience, knowhow and brains to adapt and progress.”The subject is poked further: to move up, prevent stagnation, might not some outsidehelp or perspective be a good idea? “I’d love for someone to work with me. A leggiematures after 29. I have achieved something before it, but I now want to learn more.I want it to be in the right way so that I benefit, so that I add to my skills. Mushtaq, Qadir, Kumble, Jenner, anyone.”The other endearing Kaneria trait is the one that makes possible every 50-over spell ona merciless track. He is determined, cussedly so, and even when times are bad, confidence is never fully gone. “I need to shift up a few levels. My aim is to take500 Test wickets, then attempt the record. Someone in India asked me whether I couldtake 700 wickets. I believe I can.”I’ve gone past Saqlain and I am a few away from Qadir. After that Wasim, Waqar andImran. I don’t ever think I can’t do it, because if I start thinking that, then I won’t. Sure injuries, fitness and form issues are there, but whatever happens in the world or to me, I want wickets. That’s it.”So it is, for Pakistan will hope it is this trait that might ultimately see him through.