Bats with God

Posted by sepoy on November 30, 2006 · 2 mins read

A little over an year ago, I wrote about Mohammad Yousuf neé Yousuf Youhana's conversion to Islam. In the post, I was a bit ambivalent about the symbolic force of that personal decision. A few months later, by happenstance, I ended up chatting with Yousuf over IM. He seemed geniunely excited and happy. And said that he felt a greater peace than ever before.

Well, that greater peace has enabled him to score more runs in any one calendar year in the history of cricket - at the astounding rate of 99.33 runs. Greater even than the great Viv Richards. The spin, in news stories everywhere, is that it is his faith that has enabled him this record-shattering run. God has helped me break this record, he says. Islam has helped him focus his skills and shaped the way he trains, supports his coach, Bob Wollmer.

Those who follow American football - or basketball etc. - are familiar with such stories of new-found religiosity impacting on-field performance. Kurt Warner, the rags-to-jesus quarterback for the St. Louis Rams* comes to mind. But, I cannot think of any other example from Cricket.

To my uninitiated mind, Muhammad Yousuf had a straight bat even before he found the straight path. Either way, it really is a remarkable feat and my heartiest congratulations to him.

update: dk pointed out Rob's brilliant comment to my last post. I just re-read it and must now reproduce it here for all.

Cricket is a religion that needs no other. Come to think of it, it might just be the perfect religion. It has a ritualistic, mystic charm which often orbits around seemingly-ordinary objects that are elevated exclusively through the context in which they are put to use; a dense web of doctrine, initially impenetrable to outsiders but which believers are always all-too-happy to explain to potential converts; and a proud sense of its own history and great events that often focuses on the most evenly-matched sides. It’s not afraid to ask the big questions, often retrosopectively. “How was that onnnne?” Not just this, but it also boasts a plethora of god-like figures who regularly turn out to be reassuringly flawed. This provides great grounding to believers.

COMMENTS


WestEnder | November 30, 2006

I'm pretty sure Kurt Warner never played with the Saints. I wonder if you misstated the team or if you meant to say the current Saints QB, Drew Brees. In any case, acknowledging God for sports victory is hardly rare. I almost rooted against Michael Chang because I was sick of hearing him praise "my lord and saviour Jesus Christ" on the victory stand. Separation of church and sport, I say!

sepoy | November 30, 2006

Westender: Sorry, Rams. Thx for the correction.

AG | December 01, 2006

The conversion thing doesn't seem to work much in combat sports though. I know of a couple of fighters who found God and were subsequently beaten quite badly.

Quizman | December 01, 2006

I don't necessarily agree with Bill Maher all the time, but he got one right when he said that he would like to see a baseball fielder thank god or cross himself after he floors a catch. If the big G made good things happen, he must be responsible for mess-ups too. :-)

Innyc29 | December 07, 2006

Are you seriously entertaining the possibility that he's become a better cricketer for having dumped Christianity for Islam ? Did you consider that his "sense of peace" may have come from his not being picked on anymore in a country that famed for its intolerance and brutal treatment of minorities. Its exactly this mindset that has led to the minority population (Hindus, Christians and Sikhs) almost disappearing from Pakistan in the last 50 years.

chanad | December 09, 2006

not really related to the post, but thought you might enjoy this amusing nazm about cricket by saaghar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q99IY3mgOu0

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