I was not the one who raised the issue of Huraira's religious faith. But I should address the rebuttals of my comments about his potential and the impact of religion upon it.
You will note that I actually specified that my all-time sporting hero is a man who was defined by his religious beliefs - Eric Liddell, who managed the incredible double of being the greatest ever Scottish sportsman and the greatest ever Chinese sportsman.
You ask why I have concluded that religious faith is often - not always - antithetical to (incompatible with)
cricketing success.
Well, I have data on which I base that theory, and a hypothesis for why it works that way.
As I wrote earlier, there have been two all-time great teams in my lifetime. The champion West Indies team of 1976-1991 contained no great players of any significant religious beliefs. The great Australian team of 1995-2005 contained one single religious player.
I would add that the international performances of Saeed Anwar, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed basically fell off a cliff when they became more devout, while I don't think that any of the other recent Pakistanis improved after they found religion apart from Mohammad Yousaf.
And the case of Yousaf basically illustrates my theory elegantly.
I do not wish to offend my Pakistani friends by singling out their religion, so I will instead address the one earlier generations of my family followed, Christianity.
The few people of my age in Australia, New Zealand and the UK who are observant Christians basically had their beliefs drummed into them before the were old enough to think. They believe in things inconsistent with logical thought because they were given beliefs before they could analyse facts of any description. Many Americans are much more devoutly Christian - and much more conservative - because their beliefs were taught to them before they were capable of critical evaluation of information. Their beliefs pre-date their capacity for critical thinking.
Mohammad Yousaf is different - he actually exercised his own mind to switch religions as an adult, and weighed up all sorts of complex pros and cons in doing so. That's actually a skillset of reflection, decisiveness and capacity to change course which is not totally different to the one you need to go from being a good batsman to a great one.
Earlier in this thread @The_Googly gave the example of the westernised Pakistani players of the 1970s as people who were educated, unreligious and won nothing.
I would argue the opposite - that Intikhab Alam achieved far more than Shadab Khan but also that Majid Khan was more respected and feared during his career than Inzamam was. Majid Khan captained Cambridge University and played for Glamorgan in the County Championship and Queensland in Australia. Wasim Raja had a series away in the West Indies when he performed as a batsman on a higher level than any other Pakistani in any series, ever.
And Imran Khan turned himself from a rubbish medium-paced inswing bowler into the greatest captain and second greatest all-rounder that anyone has ever seen. And he did it through thought, reflection and a courage to overturn his beliefs and go in a new direction.
The 1970's Pakistan cricketers were really cast in the image of Jinnah. As a result of which they were in demand around the world.
An aspiring cricketer has the best chance of success if he learns to analyse his game, the opposition's strengths, weaknesses and strategies and his fitness and lifestyle. If anything, religion has the capacity to undermine this sporting development if a player thinks that by living a pious life and being religious he has a shortcut to success without having to put in the hard work on the game.
So privately when I see a young sportsman of any religion putting on a public display of his religious beliefs I worry for his sporting potential. I worry that he prioritises beliefs that predate his ability to think ahead of the hard, evidence-based task of analysing and improving his own game.
It was Karl Marx who described religion as "the opium of the masses". And it is quite ironic that when I see a young sportsman who is devoutly religious my next instinct is to worry about his future, whereas many of you who are more religious than I am have the opposite reaction.
I have the same worries whether that sportsman is a young Brazilian footballer or an Asian cricketer.
And it is part of the rich tapestry of life that a picture of Mohammed Huraira praying can have the opposite effect on me as a western male to which it has on many of the Pakistanis on this forum.
and maybe then started also doing an urulu seve around the ground during the break. How would that feel to a Pakistani Muslim?
