'It was not about cricket. When the prophet calls, that is when you go'

[Clarke]

I found Yousuf bhai's interview funny, here it goes :giggle: Pakistani members, we are trying to learn the righteous path and hence use dua/inshallah as per what we interpret 4m Yousuf bhai. http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/it-was-not-about-cricket-when-the-prophet-calls-that-is-when-you-go-20100101-llqw.html PETER ROEBUCK: Thank you for your time. Even though you've toured here before, scored hundreds and now captain the team, a lot of Australians don't know much about you. Can you tell us something about your family background? MOHAMMAD YOUSUF: I was from very poor family, and used to play with just stick and table tennis ball put in tape. We did not have money for bats and all that. The stick was oval shape. It did not have a handle. We just played in the road, street, anywhere. It was a poor area, and we had a lot of friends, and we played all the time. Table tennis ball was good because cricket ball was hard to play on the road. It was small so we had to watch it. As we grew up, we went to tennis ball and tape ball. PR: Can you describe your first house? MY: My father was working in the railways as a helper and they gave us a small house in the Railways Colony. It had two rooms. It was full because we had the parents and five boys and a girl. My mother was the housewife. PR: Is it normal in Pakistan cricket for players to come from poor families? MY: Mostly they come from poor areas. I don't know why. Pakistan is not a rich country, and lot of people are poor. PR: Was it a driving force? MY: I had no option. Only other thing was work. If I was going to achieve anything, it was cricket. I was not sure to play for Pakistan but Allah helped me. I took a chance and did well. PR: How did you rise in the game? Australians have the idea it is all random in Pakistan. Did you come through the ranks? MY: Very difficult for proper players to come through because there is a lot of destruction there. If you have no power, it is very difficult. I am from Lahore but Lahore did not want me because I had no power. PR: No big man to back you up? MY: No background. No one behind me. So I am playing for Bahawalpur. PR: Who was teaching you the game? MY: Nobody teach me but the late Abdul Bashir Chugtai is the man who put me on the road. He walk around while we play and watch me, and he tell me I am good. So I play. My brothers stop after tape ball.. PR: Was your father happy for you to play cricket? MY: He did not stop me. They gave permission. They sent me to Don Bosco College. PR: A Catholic school. Your family was Catholic? MY: Still some Catholics. My parents are Catholic. They stay the same. We went to church every Sunday. That was the tradition. PR: Why did you convert from Christianity to Islam? MY: When I saw that the real people who follow Islam, you can tell they are good people. I went to meeting and talkings, and I could see they were good. It was not about cricket. When the prophet calls, that is when you go. It is not this life I am thinking about, it's the next life. This life is finished in one time. The next life is not finished. If go to hell, always hell. If go to heaven, always heaven. That is what I am thinking about. PR: Was it difficult for a Catholic boy growing up in Pakistan at that time? You were the fourth Christian to play for Pakistan. MY: It was not difficult. You were given chance to prove yourself. I did that and everybody see me. I play a lot for Pakistan before change. PR: You came from the mosque today? MY: The one in Commonwealth Street. PR: Since Inzamam (-ul-Haq), religion is a strong thing in your team. MY: Any Muslim must pray five times every day. It is not Inzamam only. All Muslims. PR: Ten years ago, the world was a different place. Do you think religion was less emphasised? Does it play a more important role in country and cricket these days? MY: You see we came here to play cricket but Mussulman is different. We must pray five times a day. That is our faith. But we can pray just two minutes, three minutes. In a day it might be 15 minutes. People see it more. Other teams have their gods. PR: Tell me about your great year in 2006. The year after you converted, you broke Viv Richards's record for most Test runs in the year. Was the conversion a weight off your shoulders? MY: I play well that year. I don't know why. Not religion. Good form. We had lot of matches. PR: Tell me about the Indian Cricket League. You joined it after the selectors left you out of a team. How was it? MY: ICL not bad for people not playing international cricket. PR: The money was good? MY: Everyone play for money. Every player get money, every board get money. T20 come because of money. Real cricket, Test cricket, nobody watches. More sponsorship in T20. Everyone needs the money. You do your job for money. PR: That's true. Lots of stories are told about ICL with match-fixing …? MY: I don't know about this. I play four or five matches. Let's talk about something else. PR: Was the captaincy a surprise to you? MY: When they gave me the captaincy in Dubai, it was a surprise. I play for my country. I just want to serve my country. PR: In Melbourne your captaincy was clever with 8/1 fields? MY: I try to learn all the time. I see that Ricky Ponting don't give us runs easily. I try the same thing. These days cricket is a lot of T20. Everyone try to make runs. Batsmen can't stay. PR: You think there is too much T20? MY: Practice is starting. Not good if captain miss practice …

[Pioneer]

Seems very humble, I liked the last part :P

[Clarke]

Seems very humble' date=' I liked the last part :P[/quote'] He is humble, why doesnt he know proper English despite being a well off Catholic for so long ?

[Desi Cartman]

I like how religious people tell others what to do .. how can he be even sure that he is following the right path .. he was following another path till few years ago ... whats the guarantee that he is right now and that he wont change his mind again .. Stop preaching FFS

[Pioneer]

I'm not very knowledgeable in the area, do all Catholics know English?

[Desi Cartman]

PR: That's true. Lots of stories are told about ICL with match-fixing …? MY: I don't know about this. I play four or five matches. Let's talk about something else.

:haha:

[Desi Cartman]

I'm not very knowledgeable in the area' date=' do all Catholics know English?[/quote'] No ...

[Pioneer]

I like how religious people tell others what to do .. how can he be even sure that he is following the right path .. he was following another path till few years ago ... whats the guarantee that he is right now and that he wont change his mind again .. Stop preaching FFS

Dude if you read the interview, you can see that Peter Roebuck was the one asking the questions about religion, he was only answering it as he thought. He wasn't "preaching"

[urbestfriend]

Kudos to Yusuf for making it big though he hails from poor background.:hatsoff:

[Lord]

:hysterical::hysterical:

[urbestfriend]

I like how religious people tell others what to do .. how can he be even sure that he is following the right path .. he was following another path till few years ago ... whats the guarantee that he is right now and that he wont change his mind again .. Stop preaching FFS

Where was he preaching, he is telling his views. If he is convinced about something , so be it.Why are you questioning it?

[Desi Cartman]

Dude if you read the interview' date=' you can see that Peter Roebuck was the one asking the questions about religion, he was only answering it as he thought. He wasn't "preaching"[/quote'] Isnt it true that he was trying to show the right path to other cricketers .. for example lara ? I have no issues with him following any religion but dont use cricket to promote it .. my 2 cents

[punjabi_khota]

"Not good if captain miss practise". :lmao: :lmao: Epic. :adore: Btw were the responses left un-edited for comic effect ? This is the first time I am seeing a whole interview which has been printed verbatim where almost every line is a masterclass in english :dontknow:

[DomainK]

"Not good if captain miss practise". :lmao: :lmao: Epic. :adore: Btw were the responses left un-edited for comic effect ? This is the first time I am seeing a whole interview which has been printed verbatim where almost every line is a masterclass in english :dontknow:

Quite right. There is also a sarcastic tone in some of the questions. Most news agencies fix up the grammatical errors before publishing, but they have left the interview as it it for the comic effect.

[Karan114]

Btw were the responses left un-edited for comic effect ? This is the first time I am seeing a whole interview which has been printed verbatim where almost every line is a masterclass in english :dontknow:

Actually from what I've heard of him in TV interviews - the responses here, comical though they seem, are far too eloquent given his pathetic English! But I take your point - it is a surprise to see this and you are probably right about the comic effect.

[Sachinism]

loved how he side-stepped the match fixing question lol He said Allah helped him when he was young and coming up. But he was catholic then and he wasn't praying to Allah, so why did Allah help him then?

[Pioneer]

Just because he was Catholic doesn't mean Allah couldn't have helped him.

[PotterManiac]

I am from Lahore but Lahore did not want me because I had no power.

Hmm :((

[Desi Cartman]

Just because he was Catholic doesn't mean Allah couldn't have helped him.

So was allah helping George bush as well ? or why couldnt allah help Osama or allah was more interested in helping yoyo's cricket career ? Out b4 post gets deleted by mods :emc:

[DomainK]

loved how he side-stepped the match fixing question lol He said Allah helped him when he was young and coming up. But he was catholic then and he wasn't praying to Allah, so why did Allah help him then?

It's just a reference to God I guess.