Danish Kaneria: “Nowhere close to the quality of a Sunil Narine or Ajantha Mendis. He can’t turn the game around”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria thinks mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed is “nowhere close to the quality” of West Indies’ Sunil Narine and Sri Lanka’s Ajantha Mendis.
Explaining why, he noted that Abrar is not as effective as Narine and Mendis, and “can’t turn the game around” either.
The 26-year-old recently represented Pakistan in their ODI tri-series against New Zealand and South Africa, where he picked up three wickets in three matches at an average of 57.
Afterwards, he took part in the 2025 Champions Trophy and finished with two wickets in two games at an average of 37.50.
Abrar was then involved in Pakistan’s limited overs tour of New Zealand and took five wickets in three T20Is at an average of 19.80.
As for the three-match ODI series, he wasn’t included in the playing XI for any of the games.
“Nowhere close to the quality of a Sunil Narine or Ajantha Mendis. He can’t turn the game around,” Kaneria told PTI Video as quoted by NDTV.
Abrar is currently featuring in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and has claimed 12 wickets in eight matches for the Quetta Gladiators at an average of 18.16 and an economy rate of 7.64.
PSL 10 began on April 11 and will end on May 18.
Quetta Gladiators Squad for PSL 10:
- Platinum: Faheem Ashraf, Finn Allen, Mark Chapman
- Diamond: Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Amir, Rilee Rossouw
- Gold: Akeal Hosein, Saud Shakeel (captain), Mohammad Wasim Jnr
- Silver: Haseebullah Khan, Khawaja Nafay, Kyle Jamieson, Khurram Shahzad, Usman Tariq
- Emerging: Mohammad Zeeshan, Hasan Nawaz
- Supplementary: Danish Aziz, Kusal Mendis, Sean Abbott, Shoaib Malik