Born on 27 August 1974, Mohammad Yousuf is an elegant right hander in the mould of many past great batsmen and should consider himself very unlucky to be a part of a management which failed him.

A born Christian, Mohammad Yousuf (Yousuf Youhana) was just the 4th Christian to play for Pakistan. Yousuf made his debut against South Africa at Durban in 1998 but failed to pass single figures in both the innings. Despite a century against Zimbabwe, Yousuf struggled for big scores against the more established line-ups early on in his career and it was only in November 1999 that he became an established name in international cricket with twin knocks of 95 and 75 at the Gabba.

It set up for a superb Test career where Yousuf consistently topped the run charts during a superb 7 year spell. 2006 was the icing on the cake for the converted Christian as he scored a world record 1788 runs in a single calendar year overtaking the previous record set by Sir Viv Richards. The ICC rewarded him for the feat with the Cricketer of the year award for 2007. The runs also removed any doubts one had about his abilities to score big against quality opposition away from home. Previously, one look at his career suggested that Yousuf had taken a liking to the minnows while struggling comparatively against the giants of world cricket.

In a consistent ODI career, Yousuf just fell 280 runs of completing 10,000 runs. He was the man for big occasions. A sublime 100 against Australia at home was followed by a good start in the 1999 WC before injury forced him out of the competition. Yousuf continued to be a run machine with several consistent scores. Like in the Tests, Mohammad Yousuf continued to fest upon the minnows with 6 of his 15 hundreds scored against them. While being no minnow basher, Yousuf gave the Pakistan middle order the much needed stability in what was an explosive batting line up.

Yousuf was guided by the basic principles of Islam and converted in 2005. His career has been not short of controversies though. In 2007, after initially signing a contract to join the Indian Cricket League, Yousuf later refused to join due to pressure from the Pakistan Cricket Board as he would later face a ban by the board. In return the PCB promised to get him into the Indian Premier League, however, no team bid for him as he faced a litigation from the ICL. In 2008, Yousuf joined ICL again to play mid-way though the second season earning him a ban from representing Pakistan.

Yousuf returned to the national team and scored a sublime 112 on his return against Sri Lanka in 2009. He was named as the captain for the twin tours of New Zealand and Australia. The Australian tour which Pakistan lost 0-3 was marred in controversies and Yousuf was banned for life, a stringent action from the Pakistan Cricket Board. The ban was later overturned and Yousuf was called back into the team in the middle of the England tour in 2010. He struggled on his return and has not been considered for selection since then. He played his last match against South Africa in Dubai, it was an ODI and Yousuf scored 3.

He is yet to announce his retirement from international cricket but has not played a first class game since May 2011. In an interview given in May 2013, he said "I am already out of the Pakistan team and haven't played top class cricket for a while now so what is the purpose of me announcing my retirement".

Fact: He opted out of the Champions trophy in 2008 as it clashed with the holy month of Ramadan.


By Pradeep Krishnamurthy
As of April 2014