Former England pacer Darren Gough has heaped praise on Pakistan batting great Mohammad Yousaf, while talking about his style of batting.

Yousaf played 90 Tests and 282 One-day Internationals (ODIs), over the course of his illustrious career, and scoring more than 17,000 runs.

"Mohammad Yousaf always batted with a smile on his face, he understood you and wanted to keep on talking to you. He was that friendly face when you were bowling, but then suddenly when you looked at the scoreboard he would still be smiling and closing in on a 50," Gough was quoted as saying by Sports Journalist Saj Sadiq.    

Earlier, former England captain Andrew Strauss also shared how he learned a great deal from watching the transformation in Yousaf’s approach, since his conversion to Islam, towards his batting.

 “I always like to use the example of Mohammad Yousaf. When he was Yousaf Youhana, he was averaging 40 in Test cricket. Then he became a devout Muslim and on the back of that he had this philosophy that God willing, what will happen will happen. He had a much different outlook on life and he went from averaging 40 over the space of three years to averaging 70 in Test cricket,” said Strauss.

“If I was working with a young player, this would be the philosophy I would try to embed in them," he added.

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It must be noted that Yousuf Youhana had taken the Muslim name of Muhammad Yousaf after embracing Islam, back in September 2005.

Formerly a member of the country's Christian minority, Youhana became a Muslim along with his wife and children.