Fawad Ahmed ( ps, ; born 5 February 1982) is a Pakistan-born Australian cricketer. He was granted Australian citizenship in July 2013. In August and September 2013, he played for the

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) a ...

in both a T20I and an ODI series against England. He is the cousin of Pakistani international cricketers Junaid Khan and Yasir Shah.

Career

Born in

Swabi Swabi ( ps, صوابۍ; ur, ) is a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

province, Ahmed began playing cricket for

Swabi District Swabi District ( ps, سوابۍ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in the Mardan Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It lies between the Indus and Kabul Rivers. Before becoming a district in 1988, it was a tehsil wit ...

in local competitions. Playing as a right-arm

leg spin Leg spin is a type of spin bowling in cricket. A leg spinner bowls right-arm with a wrist spin action. The leg spinner's normal delivery causes the ball to spin from right to left (from the bowler's perspective) when the ball bounces on the ...

ner, he made his first-class debut for

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourt ...

in 2005, playing two matches before being dropped from the side. Ahmed resumed playing first-class cricket in 2009, playing for

Pakistan Customs Pakistan Customs () is one of the elite cadres of the Civil Services of Pakistan. Pakistan Customs is manned by officers from the Pakistan Customs Service (PCS) which is one of the premier occupational group among Pakistan's civil services. P ...

in the

Quaid-i-Azam Trophy The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition in Pakistan. With few exceptions, it has been staged annually since it was first played during the 1953–54 season. Domestic cricket in Pakistan has undergone many reorganis ...

, and later that year also played three further matches for Abbottabad. His best bowling figures, 6/109, were taken for Pakistan Customs against the

Karachi Whites Karachi cricket teams competed in the Pakistani first-class cricket tournaments the Patron's Trophy and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy from 1953-54 to 2018-19. Beginning with the 2019-20 season, the city of Karachi has been represented in the Quaid-e-Azam Tr ...

, in January 2009. Ahmed left Pakistan in 2010, emigrating to Australia on a short-stay visa sponsored by the Yoogali Cricket Association. Soon after arrival, he applied for

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

status, claiming he was persecuted by religious extremists for playing and coaching cricket. His hometown is in northwest Pakistan, a region that borders

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

and is affected by the current

War in North-West Pakistan The insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan, and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jund ...

. Choosing to live in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Ahmed took up playing with

Hoppers Crossing Hoppers Crossing is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Hoppers Crossing recorded a population of 37,216 at the 2021 cens ...

in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association, and soon progressed to playing for

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

Victorian Premier Cricket Victorian Premier Cricket is a club cricket competition in the state of Victoria administered by Cricket Victoria. Each club fields four teams (firsts through to fourths) of adult players and usually play on weekends and public holidays. Match ...

. Ahmed also participated in Melbourne's largest 'open' T20 event run by Infinity Cricket in 2011 & 2012 representing the Western Warriors who were winners. He was named the Best Bowler of the 2012 Infinity T20 Cricket Tournament. Despite having his initial application declined, he was granted permanent residency in November 2012. Later that month, Ahmed signed with the Melbourne Renegades, having been granted a special exemption to play in the Big Bash League. He made his debut in the Big Bash League in January 2013, taking 0/34 on debut, and was subsequently selected in the Prime Minister's XI to play against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

. In five one-day matches for Victoria in the

Ryobi One Day Cup The One-Day Cup, known as the Marsh One-Day Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an Australian domestic List A 50-over limited-overs cricket tournament. It has had many different names, formats and teams since the inaugural 1969-1970 season. Initi ...

in 2012-13 he took 10 wickets at 18.00. He also played in Victoria's last three matches in the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Sh ...

, taking 16 wickets at 28.37, including 2 for 79 and 5 for 83 against Queensland. In the 2014/15 Bupa Sheffield Shield final, Ahmed took the honour for the best figures in a Shield final. He took 8 for 89 in 40 overs with 9 maidens. On 2 July 2013, Ahmed was granted Australian citizenship, clearing him to play for the full Australian national cricket team. A devout

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, Ahmed has missed training sessions during Ramadan and is known to leave the field to pray during games. He has also requested that logos of sponsors whose activities he does not agree will be removed from his kit and in 2013, the logo of Victoria Bitter was removed from Ahmed's shirt, due to the fact that Islam prohibits alcohol. On 29 August 2013, Ahmed made his Australian debut play in a T20 international against England at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. On 31 March 2015, Ahmed was named in the Australian Test Squad to tour the West Indies and England in 2015 following an outstanding domestic season for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield. Ahmed switched clubs and played for Sydney Thunder during the 2015 Big Bash League season. On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Vancouver Knights in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the

Global T20 Canada The Global T20 Canada is a 20-over cricket tournament played in Canada. The first edition of the tournament took place during June and July 2018 with six teams competing. Each team featured four local Canadian cricketers in each squad, along w ...

tournament. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Montreal Tigers franchise team in the

2019 Global T20 Canada The 2019 Global T20 Canada was the second edition of the Global T20 Canada, a 20-over professional cricket tournament, played at the CAA Centre, Brampton, Ontario. It started on 25 July 2019, and concluded with the final on 11 August 2019. It ...

tournament. In 2019 Ahmed signed with the Perth Scorchers in the BBL. In July 2020, he was named in the

Trinbago Knight Riders The Trinbago Knight Riders (formerly the Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel) are a franchise cricket team of the Caribbean Premier League based in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The Red Steel was one of the original six teams created for the t ...

squad for the

2020 Caribbean Premier League The 2020 Caribbean Premier League (CPLT20) or for sponsorship reasons, Hero CPL 2020 was the eighth season of the Caribbean Premier League, the domestic Twenty20 cricket league played in the West Indies. All matches were played in Trinidad ...

. In February 2022, he was drafted by

Lahore Qalandars Lahore Qalandars ( ur, ; pnb, لہور قلندرز; abbreviated as LQ) is a Pakistani professional cricket franchise which plays in the Pakistan Super League, representing the city of Lahore. The home ground of the team is Gaddafi Stadium. ...

as a replacement for Rashid Khan for the remainder of PSL 2022. On 6 January 2023, Ahmed signed with the Melbourne Renegades in the BBL as a replacement player for Shaun Marsh who had been injured with a hamstring strain.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed, Fawad 1982 births Abbottabad cricketers Living people Melbourne Renegades cricketers Sydney Thunder cricketers Perth Scorchers cricketers Adelaide Strikers cricketers Pakistan Customs cricketers Australian people of Pashtun descent Pakistani cricketers Pakistani Muslims Pakistani refugees Pakistani emigrants to Australia People from Swabi District Refugees in Australia Victoria cricketers Naturalised citizens of Australia Australian cricketers Quetta Gladiators cricketers Islamabad United cricketers Lahore Qalandars cricketers Australian Muslims Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Australia One Day International cricketers Australian sportspeople of Pakistani descent