Mohammad Yousuf names legend responsible for not letting him play 2011 World Cup

Former Pakistan cricketer Mohammad Yousuf, considered one of the country’s greatest middle-order batters, opened up on his exclusion from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 squad.

Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi, who led the Green Shirts in the tournament, talked about the situation in a private channel show.

The right-handed batter said he was disappointed to be left out of the team when he could have played in the tournament.

A stylish, world-class batter who was a pillar of Pakistan’s middle order!

His 1788 Test runs in 2006 remains a record, and with 17,134 runs, he’s 🇵🇰’s third-highest run-scorer in international cricket 🙌 #OnThisDay Happy birthday, Mohammad Yousuf 🎉 https://t.co/E2ZWr1LT9z pic.twitter.com/9O1TpW1deW

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 27, 2023

Shahid Afridi said that he in fact tried to persuade and force Mohammad Yousuf to play the World Cup.

Mohammad Yousuf went on to say that he was willing to play but Shahid Afridi told him that Waqar Younis does not want him to participate in the tournament.

Shahid Afridi added that he doesn’t remember most of anything that happened but he did say that let’s get the matter settled through the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Pakistan were eliminated from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 when they lost to hosts and winners India in the semi-finals.

Mohammad Yousuf represented Pakistan in 381 international fixtures across all three formats (Test, ODI and T20I). He scored 17,308 runs with 39 centuries and 97 fifties to his name.