Kaneria made his international debut as a leg-spinner in November 2000 at the age of 19, playing in a Test match against England at Faisalabad. In that same season, he played two Test matches against the same team taking only four wickets at the average of 54 runs. In the next year, he took six wickets in an innings twice against Bangladesh during the first match of 2001–02 Asian Test Championship. Kaneria took 12 wickets for 94 runs, Pakistan won the match, and his performance earned him the man of the match award. This was also his best bowling performance in a Test match. The following year, during the Pakistan tour Bangladesh, Kaneria achieved his career-best performance in an innings against the same team taking seven wickets for 77 runs at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka. In October 2003–04, he was part of the Pakistan team during the South Africa tour of Pakistan. In first Test match played at the Gaddafi Stadium, he took seven wickets for 111 runs including a five-wicket haul in the first innings. His performance in the match helped Pakistan winning the match and earned him the man of the match award. He bowled 28.3 overs continuously from the University End providing "the priceless asset of control" to his team and the South African batsmen were unable to "read him with certainty".