Mohammad Yousuf's debut in International Cricket

Here, we will take a look at Mohammad Yousuf's debut in International cricket. The lazy elegance of this right-handed batsman from Peshawar was for everyone to marvel at, as he gave some mind-boggling performances to cement his place in the batting order of Pakistan. His passion to play for long hours and score at a consistent pace has been applauded by many critics and has been a major boon for his team. After converting to Islam, Mohammad Yousuf became the first Christian-Muslim captain for Pakistan in their history. He didn't let the burden of captaincy affect him as he continued his elegant style of playing with perfection.

Born to a Hindu family who converted to Christianity, Yousuf used to swat at taped tennis balls with wooden planks in his early ages. After being restricted to play cricket due to parental conditions, he was plucked from a tailer shop to play a cricket match in the 1990's. His prolific shots impressed everyone and soon, a local club called him into the squad as they were short of players. Here, he scored a hundred before coming into the Bradford Cricket League with Bowling Old Lane. His subsequently impressve performances were beginning to get noticed by people.

He got his first call-up to the national team for a Test series in South Africa in 1998, making his debut in the second Test. Here, he stayed on the crease for a mere 24 minutes, scoring 5 runs. A debut to forget for Yousuf, though his team went on to win by 29 runs.

But, instead of deterring the man, it further encouraged Yousuf to improve on his mistakes and develop into a world-class stroke maker. With 7530 runs in Tests and 9720 runs in ODI's, Mohammad Yousuf has risen to the occasion whenever his team needed him and has been a pivot in the batting order of Pakistan. Class at it's best.