Your a Pak fan right - at least this is what I remember - forgive me if my memory is wrong. I would kill to have MY in the NZ team he is better than anything we have. He may not go down as an all time great - but he is going to go down as a bloody awesome player.
Someone posted - and I can't recall if it was you - that they were dissapointed with Yousuf after he was dismissed for 80 odd and Pak went on to lose the game against New Zealand in an earlier test match this year. I guess it is frustrating to see someone not fulfill their potential but an 80 run inning is pretty solid. It is also especially impressive when you are doing it as a solo act game after game. It is much easier for Mahela to score runs when you have Sangakarra at the other end to lessen the pressure from you not to mention the rest of the SL top order. I think Yousuf would be even better if he played in a stronger batting team.
Anyways you are lucky to have him.
See the thing is it all boils down to what standards you set. Yes Mohammad Yousuf is at least better batsman than Ross Taylor..Ross Taylor is at least a better batsman than Mohammad Ashraful and Mohammad Ashraful is at least a better batsman than Courtney Walsh.
The thing is, there will always be someone you will be better than. Thats not saying much.
The reason I do not compare Yousuf with Ross Taylor but with Jayawardene and Kallis is because he averages close to them. When he gets going, he looks very solid as a player, looks very elegant as I mentioned in my previous post, looks set for a big score like Kallis or Jayawardene..but then gets a 60 odd or 70 odd and gets out..whereas they convert it to a 170.
Now one can argue that at least he got 70, Ashraful gets 20...but why should I compare him with a lesser player? Yes if Azhar Ali gets a 80 odd..I will really praise him..but Yousuf getting a 80 odd is nothing to rave about.
Yes I was very disappointed when we lost that test match in New Zealand. No disrespect to New Zealand but this is not a team comprising of Fleming, Greatbatch, Astle, MacMillan, Cairns, Harris and Parore. This is a pretty weak NZ team and we should have won that series and Yousuf as the leading batsman should have scored at least one century in a 3 match series.
Anyway, having said all that, yes I would rather have him in the side than not. The difference he makes to the side is evident from the vast difference in performances..we were 72 all out in the last match..this one we managed 309 and looks like we might win this one. So yeah its better to have him in the team..but I have high expectations from him and more often than not he has disappointed especially on overseas tours.
