Banned Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria on Thursday said he finally confessed to spot-fixing after years of denial to get closure for his mistakes and sought forgiveness from the country's "shocked" cricket community.
"I just want the cricket board, my fans and the Pakistani people to understand my situation and forgive me. I made a grave mistake in associating with a bookmaker(Anu Bhatt) and not reporting it to the concerned authorities and I have paid the price for it," Kaneria said.
"I am gutted at the moment because it is not easy to come out like this after basically lying for six years. I had to do it now because it was a burden on me and I just couldn't take the stigma of being called a spot-fixer any longer and denying it," Kaneria said.
Kaneria, who will turn 38 in December and who took 261 wickets in 61 Tests, said he wanted to rebuild his life and hoped the cricket authorities would accept his apology and show compassion.
"What I did was very wrong...I hope the people forgive me," he said.
"My mistake was getting close to this guy, (alleged match-fixer) Anu Bhatt who became like a family friend to us after he came to Pakistan and we went to India in 2005/06. He virtually started blackmailing me," he added.
Kaneria is serving a life ban since 2012 for indulging in spot-fixing in English county matches. The ban was imposed on him by the English Cricket Board (ECB).
Kaneria played his last Test on the tour of England in 2010 after which the PCB withdrew him from the squad when it was reported that the ECB was investigating the leg-spinner for fixing in county matches.