Andrew Strauss: “He had a much different outlook on life and he went from averaging 40 over the space of three years to averaging 70 in Test cricket”

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Former England captain Andrew Strauss has revealed how becoming Muslim and accepting Islam helped Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf become a legendary player.

Yousuf was previously known as Yousuf Youhana before converting from Christianity to Islam.

Strauss noted that after Yousuf became Muslim, he “had a much different outlook on life”, which in turn had an extremely positive effect on his batting.

“I always like to use the example of Mohammad Yousuf. When he was Yousuf Youhana, he was averaging 40 in Test cricket. Then he became a devout Muslim and on the back of that he had this philosophy that God willing, what will happen will happen,” Strauss said on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast as quoted by Geo Super.

“He had a much different outlook on life and he went from averaging 40 over the space of three years to averaging 70 in Test cricket. And that’s just based on shifting his perspective on life. He was almost trying not to be as much in control of his batting as he was previously. Just kind of accepting that the fate will have something in store for him.

“I think that was a really good illustration for me that sometimes you just have to let it all go. If I was working with a young player, this would be the philosophy I would try to embed in them.”

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