[6] An official statement was released by the Pakistan Cricket Board, saying that he would not be selected again because he had created disciplinary problems and infighting within the team.

As a 12-year-old, he was spotted by the Golden Gymkhana, and he subsequently joined Lahore's Forman Christian College and continued playing until stopping abruptly in early 1994.

[9][10] Yousuf, hailing from a poor background, was plucked from the obscurity of a tailor's shop in the slums of the eastern city of Lahore to play a local match in the 1990s.

Until his conversion to Islam in 2005, Yousuf was the fourth Christian (and fifth non-Muslim overall) to play for the Pakistan cricket team, following in the footsteps of Wallis Mathias, Antao D'Souza and the Anglo-Pakistani Duncan Sharpe.

[11] He also has the distinction of being the first and so far only non-Muslim to captain the country, leading the team in the 2004–05 tour of Australia where he scored a century in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

He converted to Islam after attending regular preaching sessions of the Tablighi Jamaat, Pakistan's largest non-political religious grouping, whose preachers include Yousuf's former teammate Saeed Anwar and his brother.

However, the news was kept private for three months due to family reasons as well as his own decision to practice his faith, before his announcement of their conversion publicly in September 2005.

Seven months later in July 2006, when Pakistan toured England, he scored 202 runs and 48 in the first Test, again earning himself the man of the match award.

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 Africa's bowling spearhead Makhaya Ntini and Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

[17] A year that started on a promising note, Yousuf carried it forward to break two world records, both held earlier by former West Indian batsman Viv Richards.

He is a very committed player and an excellent role model, not just for Pakistan but for young cricketers everywhere.On 30 November 2006, during the third innings of the final Test between Pakistan and West Indies at Karachi, he surpassed Viv Richards's thirty-year-old record and became the highest scorer in Test matches during a single calendar year.

[24] 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.

[6] On 1 August 2010, after Pakistan lost the first Test match against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Yousuf was called back in the squad for the rest of the series.

[28] The selectors decided to play Yousuf in a tour match against Worcestershire just before the third Test so that his form and fitness could be checked.

Yousuf was subsequently called up to play for Pakistan in all three formats against South Africa in October 2010; however he was not selected for any of the matches.

In return the PCB promised to get him into the Indian Premier League; however, no team bid for him as he faced litigation from the ICL.

A PCB official was quoted as saying, "We have banned all our cricketers who joined the ICL and if Yousuf also plays for the unauthorised league then he will have to face the same punishment.

[37] Pakistan Cricket Board recalled batsman Mohammad Yousuf to the squad for their July 2009 Test series in Sri Lanka.

Yousuf ended his association with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) in early May, in the hope of earning a recall for his country.

Yousuf informed the Pakistan Cricket Board that he would not be taking part in the Champions Trophy 2008 because it would coincide with the holy month of Ramadan.

[40] A little over one year after being welcomed back by the PCB, Yousuf was made captain of the Test team for the tour of New Zealand after Younus Khan was allowed to take a break.

Chief Selector Mohsin Khan elected to withdraw Yousuf from the ODI and T20I squads but said that he should be ready to play in the Test match series.