'Gracious' Fawad Ahmed 'still respects' Oz legends Walters, Campese despite 'go home' remarks

Former Pakistani refugee-turned Australian leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed has reportedly shown that his performance is not affected either by the harsh words of former champions or unforgiving opposition batsmen.

The Victorian leg-spinner recovered from a dreadful first over against Tasmania on Tuesday to grasp four wickets and set the Victorian Bushrangers up for a five-wicket win in the Ryobi Cup.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, former Test batsman Doug Walters and rugby legend David Campese had criticised Ahmed's decision not to wear alcohol brand VB's logo on his team shirt and told him to 'go home' in Pakistan if he was not prepared to wear the team uniform.

However, Ahmed reacted graciously to those remarks by saying that he still respects the duo as they are both legends, adding that everyone can voice their opinion as Australia is a free country.

Thanking Cricket Australia (CA) for helping and supporting him, Ahmed also said that his being selected is all the more special as Muslims constitute only a small 1.8 percent of the overall population in Australia.