Mohammad Yousuf

At 49 years old, Mohammad Yousuf has this physical status:

Mohammad Yousuf (born 27 August 1974) is a Pakistani cricketer who played in all three formats as well as a former Test captain, ODIs, and also a religious preacher.

Yousuf was one of the few Christians to play for the Pakistan national cricket team prior to his conversion to Islam.

Following an inquiry into the team's losses during the tour of Australia, Yousuf recorded 1,788 runs in 2006, which is a world record for the most runs scored in a year in tests at an average of almost 100.

The Pakistan Cricket Board had released a formal statement stating that he would not be selected again because he had caused organizational problems and infighting within the team.

However, following Pakistan's humiliating first Test against England in July/August 2010, the PCB decided not to call Yousuf out of retirement.

Early life

Yousuf was born in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, to a Punjabi Christian family. His family is a member of the Chuhra community, the Chuhra's being Dalits or untouchables who converted to Christianity in masse during the British colonial period in order to flee from the Hindu caste system. Although his father, Youhana Maseeh, worked as a sweeper at the railway station, his family lived in the nearby Railway Colony. He couldn't afford cricket gear and played street cricket with his brother's taped tennis ball and wooden planks as a youth. He was spotted by the Golden Gymkhana as a child and later joined Forman Christian College in Lahore and continued playing until he was forced to leave early in 1994.

Yousuf, a poor background, was lured from the anonymity of a tailor's shop in the Lahore slums of the 1990s to attend a local match. His well-crafted shots attracted attention, and he climbed through the ranks to become Pakistan's top batsmen. He had been expected to work at a tailor's but was refused by a local team due to a player shortage. He was ordered to make up numbers and made a hundred, leading to a season in the Bradford Cricket League, with Bowling Old Lane and a path back to the game.

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International career

In Durban and Zimbabwe's debut against Zimbabwe in Harare, he made his Test debut against South Africa. He has run over 9,000 One Day International runs at an average of over 4000 Test runs (second highest batting average among Pakistani batsmen) with 24 Test centuries. With a total of 405 runs against Zimbabwe in 2002-2003, he has the most runs without being dismissed in a One Day International match. In One Day International, he has also scored a 23-ball fifty and a 68-ball century. He has scored a 27-ball fifty, the third fastest by a player. In the One Day International match, he was the world's top scorer during the years of 2002 and 2003. In 2004, he scored 111 runs against the Australians in the Boxing Day Test. He scored 223 runs against England at Lahore in December 2005, earning him the man of the match award. In the first Test, seven months later, when Pakistan toured England, he scored 202 runs and 48, earning him the Man of the match award. In the final Test at The Oval, he continued his scoring with 192 in the third Test at Headingley and 128.

Before Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting's, West Indies Brian Lara, Australian spinner Shane Warne, South Africa's bowling spearhead Makhaya Ntini and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muraran, Yousuf was named Cricketer of the Year for 2006. In the 2007 edition, he was selected as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. Yousuf won the ICC 'Best Cricketer of the Year' award for 2007, scoring 944 runs in just 10 innings, beating English batsman Kevin Pietersen and Australian batsman Ricky Ponting.

Yousuf forged it forward to smash two world records set earlier by former West Indian batsman Viv Richards. With the support of twelve centuries, the 32-year-old Pakistani batsman achieved an unprecedented 1788 runs in just ten Test matches, his second world record. Yousuf is known for his ability to score runs at an all-time high through his superb technique and strategic strokeplay. Yousuf is quick between the wickets, but he is prone to being run out.

The year 2006 is expected to be a year for Australia, Muttiah Muraran, and Yousuf, according to statistics. In 2006, Yousuf recorded 1788 runs at an average of 99.33, securing two of Viv Richards' world records.

He tied for the most runs made by a Pakistani batsman in a three-Test series on November 30, 2006, during the third innings of the final Test between Pakistan and West Indies at Karachi. In 1978/79, Abbas took 583 runs against the visiting Indians. In 2006, Yousuf tested centuries, a world record for the most centuries in a calendar year. Yousuf also tied for the first Tests established by former Australian batsman Donald Bradman by scoring six centuries in a row – but it took him only four matches to compare to Bradman's six.

He was the first Test player to be suspended three times in the 190s after 191 at Multan, with all three innings coming in 2006. He was selected in the ICC Test Team of the Year in 2006 and 2007. He was selected in the World Test XI by Cricinfo in 2006 for his 2006 appearances.

Yousuf is a skilled infielder, with a Cricinfo study that showed that he had the seventh highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket as a fieldman since the 1999 Cricket World Cup. He is also known for his extravagant celebration after his country's first-century runs, in which he prostrates in gratitude to Allah in the direction of Mecca. Since his conversion to Islam, he has observed this act (known as the Sajdah).

Yousuf announced his retirement from international cricket on March 29, 2010, only days after the Pakistan Cricket Board had declared an indefinite ban on international cricket. At a press conference in Karachi, "I received a letter from the PCB that my participation in the team is detrimental to the team," he said. Yousuf announced on March 27 that he had opted to withdraw from international cricket. "Yes, I've decided to retire as a Pakistan player, and my decision is not one based on emotion," Yousuf told the news agency "It's of no use playing if my playing is detrimental to the team." The Pakistan Cricket Board had banned him indefinitely for his disciplinary problems on Pakistan's tour of Australia 2009-2010.

Yousuf was called back to the squad for the remainder of the season on August 1, 2010, after Pakistan lost the first Test match against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Due to exhaustion and jet lag, he decided not to participate in the second Test. Pakistani captain Salman Butt revealed that he expected Yousuf to return for the third test shortly after the conclusion of the second test. The selectors selected Yousuf in a tour match against Worcestershire right before the third Test so that his form and fitness could be determined. Yousuf's form check was positive, because he scored 40 percent on a day marred by rain. Yousuf scored 56 against England in the third Test before being bowled out by Graeme Swann; in the process, Yousuf became Swann's 100th casualty in Test cricket; the day saw a much improved show by Pakistan as they were bowled out for 308.

He appeared in the Twenty2020 series as well as on the same tour of England last summer. Despite being regarded as a "old boys cricketer" who played in only a single T20I in 2006 and considered one who does not slog as often (notable given the low number of sixes he has scored), Yousuf participated and scored 26 of 21 deliveries, with one of them scoring.

In the second ODI against England, his return to form continued well. As Pakistan defeated 3–2, he scored regularly during the five-match England series. Yousuf was later chosen to play for Pakistan in all three styles against South Africa in October 2010, but the captaincy was not selected, but Misbah-ul-Haq Yousuf's batting partner Younis Khan was not chosen; however, he was not selected.

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