Free Hit: Yousuf, gentle giant of Indian cricket

He had no qualms with being known as Yousuf's brother and it seemed very much more than a younger brother's intimate affection.

After watching Yousuf's knock in the Indian Premier League against Mumbai Indians, it was clear why Irfan deserves to be proud of being his brother. To hit a century in 37 balls speaks more of talent than sheer luck.

As one of the most well-built cricketers in the Indian team, Yousuf can match the Australian players in fitness. To pick out the few players who can give their opponents a fright with their domineering presence are Matthew Hayden of Australia and Graeme Smith of South Africa. With nine boundaries and eight sixers, Yousuf's 84 runs came only from shots to the boundary.

No wonder Shane Warne, who has seen some of the finest knocks in world cricket, remarked that Yousuf's knock was the best he had ever seen in 21 years!

In Cape Town last April, Warne had hailed Yousuf's batting for the first time when he saw him plunder 18 runs from the first four balls in the Super Over against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Similarities

Yousuf loves to bat constantly chewing gum, very much like Viv Richards. In fact, he was once asked whether he was trying to copy Richards' style. He laughed out loud and said that he has never seen Richards in action!

Yousuf was only a year old when Richards played that gum-chewing short knock in the final of the World Cup in 1983 against India, and by the time he was nine years, Richards had retired.

"I have been chewing gum for years now. I do it in domestic cricket too," Yousuf said.

When asked whether he felt like Richards after such a knock, he was too shy even to deny it. Last month, in the Duleep Trophy finals, he literally chewed up the South Zone bowlers through an unbeaten 210 off 190 balls to power West Zone to victory chasing a total of 536. It turned out to be the biggest chase in first class cricket.

What inspires Yousuf is the praise from greats like Warne and Sachin Tendulkar.

Once when he was talked of highly by Warne, his modest remark was: "My total match appearance in domestic cricket is less than his wickets tally and to get a pat from him is really great."

That's Yousuf, the gentle giant of Indian cricket.