Fawad Ahmed`s controversy raises doubts over honour of playing for country: Report

Sydney: Australian media has claimed that unless spinner Fawad Ahmed does something special on the field, he will continue to be referred to as the Pakistani asylum seeker turned Australian cricketer, in the background of the sponsor logo controversy.

According to news.com.au, CA asked Ahmed if he was all right with wearing the Australian team kit with a sponsor`s logo for a brewery on it. In the event, Ahmed said he would prefer not to; CA was fine with it, as were the sponsors, the report said. The report said that Ahmed`s case raises the question of how much, and what, playing for a country means in the modern day. Athletes nowadays are individuals first, no matter what the sport, and they are driven firstly and mostly by a need to excel individually, the report added. In other words, the identity of the country an athlete represents, or any attachment to it, might not be as important to the athlete as the desire to be among the best at whatever discipline the athlete has chosen and be recognised as such by being selected to represent their country, the report further said. Although Ahmed probably just wants to be as good a leg-spinner as he can be, he will, perhaps always, come to represent much more, according to the report. ANI