Mohammad Yousuf bats like a king
Mohammad Yousuf went from pariah to potential saviour as he returned to the Pakistani fold for the third Test against England
Tariq Engineer
25-Feb-2013
Mohammad Yousuf went from pariah to potential saviour as he returned to the Pakistani fold for the third Test against England. And with team scores of 80 and 72 in their last two Tests, Pakistan were in desperate need of a saviour. So how did he do in his first international innings since being banned following the disastrous tour of Australia? He simply batted like a king, writes Paul Weaver in the Guardian’s Spin Blog
This was the day Pakistan rediscovered their mojo and their MoYo, as Yousuf is referred to in internet circles. He batted for only two and a half hours and scored just 56 but, for the first time in this series, Pakistan bossed the stage and England's bowlers looked a bit fed-up – no bad thing with the Ashes round the corner.
Changing name and religion did not have a noticeably adverse effect on Muhammad Ali's career and the batsman formerly known as Yousuf Youhana has been an even more formidable player since making the same alterations towards the end of 2005.
Yousuf is not just a good player, he is a great one. He is right up there with Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq – Miandad may well be the finest of them but Yousuf has the higher average.
Tariq Engineer is a former senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo