Mohammad Yousuf (formerly Yousuf Youhana, born 27
August 1974, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan) is a Pakistani cricketer who has
been a member of the Pakistani national cricket team since 1998. He is
best known for his achievement in 2006 when he broke the great West
Indian batsman, Sir Vivian Richards', world record for the most Test
runs in a single calendar year. Prior to his conversion to Islam in
2005, Yousuf was one of the few Christians to play in the Pakistan
national cricket team.
He made his Test debut against South Africa at Durban and ODI debut
against Zimbabwe at Harare. He has scored over 9,000 ODI runs at an
average of 43.63 (2rd highest batting average among Pakistani batsmen
after Zaheer Abbas and 6,770 Test runs at an average of 55.49 (highest
batting average amongst all Pakistani batsmen) with 23 Test centuries.
He has the record of scoring the most runs without being dismissed in
ODIs, 405 against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe in 2002-03. He has also scored a
23-ball fifty in ODIs, and a 68-ball hundred. In Tests he has scored a
27-ball fifty, which is 3rd fastest by any player. He was top scorer
during the successive years of 2002 and 2003 in the world in ODIs. In
2004, he scored a memorable 111 against the Australians in the Boxing
Day Test. In December 2005, he scored 223 against England at Lahore,
also earning him the man of the match award. Seven months later in July
2006, when Pakistan toured England, he scored 202 and 48 in the first
Test, again earning himself the man of the match award. He followed up
with 192 in the third Test at Headingley and 128 in the final Test at
the Oval.
Yousuf was named CNN-IBN�s Cricketer of the Year for 2006, ahead of the
likes of Australian captain Ricky Ponting, West Indies Brian Lara,
Australian spinner Shane Warne, South Africas bowling spearhead Makhaya
Ntini and Sri Lanka�s Muttiah Muralitharan. He was selected as a Wisden
Cricketer of the Year in the 2007 edition. Yousuf became the fourth
recipient of the ICC 'Test Cricketer of the Year' award for 2007, he
scored 944 runs at an average of 94.40 including five centuries and two
fifties in just 10 innings and that was enough to be awarded the honour
ahead of Kevin Pietersen and Ricky Ponting. Yousuf was also named in the
2007 Test team of the Year alongside compatriot Mohammad Asif.
A year that started on a promising note, Yousuf carried it forward to
break two world records both held earlier by West Indian great Sir
Vivian Richards. The 32-year-old smashed an unparalleled 1788 runs in
just 11 Test matches with the help of nine centuries his second record taking him beyond the Windies great yet again. Yousuf is known for
his ability to score runs at exceptional rate through his great
technique and composed strokeplay. Although capable of hitting the ball
hard, Yousuf is quick between the wickets, although he is prone to being
run out.
Yousuf is a skillful infielder, with a report prepared in late 2005
showing that since the 1999 Cricket World Cup, he had effected the ninth
highest number of run-outs in ODI cricket of any fieldsman. He is also
distinguished by his characteristic celebration after hitting one
hundred runs for his country, where he prostrates in thankfulness to
Allah in the direction of Mecca. He has observed this act (known as the
Sajdah) recently since his conversion to Islam.
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