Comprehension Exercise 10

Shakib Al Hasan

Cicilia Shoma Baroi  (ENG 043 06168)

A middle-class boy holds number 1 position in the world of cricket which means a lot to all. It has always been a dream for all the lower-middle class people of Bangladesh. This boy always followed his dreams and made it true. Shakib Al Hasan was born on 24^th March in 1987, in Magura, Bangladesh. Shakib is a left handed batsman and slow-left-arm orthodox bowler. He had a dream to play for Bangladesh in international level. He worked hard and made his dream true after a 17-year battle when he was called up by Bangladesh U19 team. Then he started to play consistently well which is quite a unique thing for any Bangladeshi player. Shakib played 18 youth one day internationals, he scored 563 runs at an average of 35.18, and took 22 wickets at an average of 20.18. He made his debut in One Day International against Zimbabwe in 2006, scored an unbeaten 30, and took a wicket. Bangladesh adored having the promising all-rounder in him and he started to bloom after that consistently. He is unarguably the best cricketer that Bangladesh have ever had. It has been said numerous times by international cricket experts and news reporters that Shakib is the best player Bangladesh have ever produced. He got his test match debut against India in 2007. His consistent performances made him the best all rounder in world cricket. He got the captaincy of Bangladesh national cricket team in 2009 and led the team until 2011. He was successful as a captain. He has rare consistency which other players lack in international level. He made himself different than others. He holds his position till now. He is the most popular cricketer in Bangladesh and has become the poster boy of Bangladesh cricket. He won millions of heart all over the world. He is the first Bangladeshi player who played for English County team. He played successfully in English county cricket for Worcestershire. He created a great impact on young cricket lovers. He visited Chittagong last year and got huge ovation by a packed house gallery of Chittagong stadium. Even he could easily make the crowd come to a less important game in domestic level. He has earned 425000 USD in the year 2011. He was the highest paid cricketer in Bangladesh Premier league in 2012 and 2013. He also played for Kolkata Knight Riders in Indian Premier League and played successfully.

He has played 30 test matches, 129 ODIs and 26 T20I matches so far for Bangladesh in international level. In test matches, he has scored 1984 runs with a highest of 144 at an average of 36.07. He has scored 3688 runs with a highest score of unbeaten 134 at an average of 35.12 in ODIs. He also scored 528 runs with a high score of 84 against Pakistan in T20I. He took 106 wickets in test matches at an average of 32.79 and his career best spell was 7/36 against New Zealand. He took 161 wickets at an average of 29.37 in ODIs and also took 36 wickets in T20Is at an average of 19.81. This consistency made him the world’s best all rounder several times. Currently, he is holding the 2^nd position in both test and ODI formats. And he is also the 3^rd world’s best all rounder of T20I format.

Shakib is also a huge football fan, and his favorite team is Argentina in international level, and Barcelona in club football. His favorite football player is 4 time Ballon d’Or winner, Leonel Messi of Argentina.

On 12^th December, 2012 he got married with an American citizen named Shishir. They had a relationship for 3 years before their marriage. They met each other in England when Shakib was playing for an English club.

Shakib is a young, rich and successful cricketer of world cricket. He is an inspiration for all. He worked hard and followed his dream until he made them true. He came from a small town and was confident enough to make his dream true. Finally he made it true by his honesty, hard work and passion for this game. So anybody can get inspiration from Shakib’s life to be successful like him in any particular sector. Every success needs hard work and passion to get it, and Shakib has all these to be an important part of world cricket.

(Source: Internet)

Answer the following questions.

1. What does the word 'orthodox' mean?

2. Which quality do the Bangladeshi players usually don't have?

a) Good performance

b) Consistency

c) Confidence

d) Leadership

3. What do you understand by being an 'all -rounder ' in cricket?

4. When did Shakib meet Shishir?

5. In which form of cricket game does Shakib have his best average of batting?

6. Can Shakib hold onto his no 1 position at rankings of all forms? Why or why not?
7. Which one is false in the following statements?
a) Shakib is a fan of Messi.

b) Shakib played for Chennai Super Kings.

c) Shakib is a left handed batsman.

Question set prepared by Fouzia Rahman Dipti (ENG 043 06161)

About the Author

Cicilia Shoma Baroi is a student of Stamford University Bangladesh and doing her B.A. honors at the English Department. She passed H.S.C from Holy Cross College Dhaka. As a normal human being Cicilia loves travelling, reading, and other stuffs. But what she likes the most is to make friendship with everyone. Another most important thing about her is that she just loves smiling. Now a days she is trying go abroad for higher studies.