LAHORE, Dec 18: Prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf has said establishing of new world records by him was the blessing of Almighty and he would like to thank Allah for giving him so much honour.

“It is all due to the great blessing of Allah, though I can not believe He has enabled me to break the world record of one of the greatest batsman Vivian Richards and that too in the presence of Inzamam-ul-Haq,” Yousuf remarked at a function organised in his honour by the president Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) Aamir Hayat Khan Rokri on Sunday night.

Yousuf, who scored nine centuries and accumulated 1788 runs in one calendar year (2006) to set two new world records said he had always been trying to serve Pakistan cricket and to perform under odd conditions.

"When you are concentrating on constant performance you can break records automatically and that I did," he said.

Yousuf, who embraced Islam last year is going to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj on Dec 26.

He thanked the LCCA for giving him honour and said his achievements also made Lahore proud as well as the country.

Rokri said he wanted to hold a big function in honour of Yousuf, as his feat was extremely large, but shortage of time did not allow it. But he pledged another graceful function would be held after Pakistan's tour of South Africa.

He said that club cricket had given the country a large number of talented cricketers, like Yousuf, and the PCB should give maximum attention to promote cricket at club level.