The elder of the famous Pathan brothers, Yusuf is famed around the circuit as one of the ferocious strikers of the cricket ball and is valued as a big match player. He carried the reputation of slogging the ball out of the park to score crucial runs in the lower middle-order and was also an off-spinner who conned countless batsmen. 

He emerged from the age-group level and started representing Baroda in the 2001-02 season. However, it wasn’t until 2004-05 when Yusuf established himself as a regular player in the state team and finished the tournament as Baroda's fourth-highest scorer and third-highest wicket-taker. 

Soon the allrounder was fast-tracked into the national sides and made his international debut in the final of World T20 of 2007. He opened the innings in the absence of an injured Virender Sehwag and started his career with a maximum. Later in 2008, Yusuf got the opportunity to represent his nation in ODIs as well. The Baroda-based hitter showed an early promise as he smashed a delightful 50 against England but after a string of low scores found himself out of the Indian side, post the Champions Trophy of 2009. 

The allrounder went back to domestic circles and redeemed himself with a 190-ball double century in the 2010 Duleep Trophy final. Yusuf then smacked two match-winning ODI centuries against New Zealand and South Africa. His notable performances meant that Yusuf was selected in the World Cup squad for the 2011 squad. However, the allrounder saw a dip in form before playing his last game for India in 2012. 

Despite that, Yusuf used to pull off quality performances in the Indian Premier League. The allrounder started his IPL journey with Rajasthan Royals as he was picked by the franchise in 2008. He pulled a match-winning performance in the final of the inaugural edition for Rajasthan Royals where he took 3/22 and scored 56 runs for them. In 2010, the hard-hitting batter cracked a 37-ball 100 against Mumbai Indians to become the hottest commodity in the league. 

During the next year’s auction, Kolkata Knight Riders snapped Yusuf for a bumper of USD 2.1 million. Yusuf stayed with Kolkata for the next six years and helped KKR bag two IPL titles. Pathan was retained for Rs. 1.9 crores by SRH in the auction for the 2019 season. He went on being unsold in the following auctions before he retired from the sport in 2021. 

(As of April 2021)