On 21 July, in a rare public appearance with his fans in Florida’s USA, Bangladesh’s star cricketer Shakib Al Hasan shared his world cup experiences. Titled as ‘Ektara Presents Shakib Al Hasan’ the event was organized by Florida’s Bangladeshi diaspora based cultural organization ‘Ektara Florida’ at North Lauderdale’s Polish American Club. Shakib Al Hasan, the iconic cricketer of the Bangladesh National Cricket team is at present enjoying a vacation in the USA which is granted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board after his superb performance with both bat and ball in the recently concluded World Cup Cricket tournament.

The cricketer feels this short break from Cricket is helping him to recharge and refresh as he got exhausted after playing some back to back series for the country in the recent times. Shakib also sat down with journalist Nazmus Saquib for a one on one interview at the event. When asked about the reason why Bangladesh failed as a team at the World Cup, Shakib responds by saying that in cricket poor form or bad patch can happen.

“Everyone tried their best. Nobody underperformed intentionally. But I am sure they can bounce back and do better for the country because all of them have the potentials.” Nazmus also asked Shakib his reaction about the treatment he received from his team Sunrise Hydarabad at the IPL (Indian Premier League) as they did not include him in the playing eleven most of the times. Shakib quipped, “I think it was a blessings in disguise for me because I utilized that extra time in preparing for the World Cup Cricket and I believe that helped me a lot. So I do not think much about my inclusion or exclusion in the playing eleven as it is entirely the decision of the team management and I believe they always try to make the right decision.” Bangladesh cricket team is at present in a limbo about the coach. When asked his opinion whether a Bangladeshi coach or a foreign coach can serve the team better, a diplomatic Shakib answers, “I am just a player, it is not my job to think about the future coach of the team. BCB is definitely looking forward to shortlist the well deserving potential candidates and among them I am sure they will choose the right person who can take this team to a new level.”

Nazmus also reminded Shakib about the 7th death anniversary of great Bangladeshi author Humayun Ahmed which was held on 19 July and asked him about his feelings about the author and his dedication of a book in his name. “I regret that fact that I was not able to meet him in person. But I appreciate the fact that he dedicated his own biographical book in my name. I am definitely one his fans and it gives me immense pleasure whenever I read his books” says Shakib. When Shakib was asked about his dream, he says, “It is definitely my dream to win the World Cup for the country. If the team wins the World Cup under my captaincy, that will be the icing on the cake. But everything depends on my fitness, my performance and the decision of the team management as the World Cup is still four years away from us. But if everything falls in place, winning the upcoming World Cup under my captaincy is definitely my dream.”

After the interview and the question and answer session with the guests, Shakib patiently took pictures with all the 200 invited guests. Rubaiya Mamun, director of the Ektara Florida wrapped up the event by thanking Shakib for his appearance and she hoped to have more public event by the cricketer again for his Bangladeshi fans in Florida in the near future.