NCERT Solutions for Class 7 English Chapter 19 - The Story of Cricket

Question 1:

Cricket is originally a/an:

  1. Indian game.
  2. British game.
  3. International game.
Answer:

British game.

Question 2:

‘There is a historical reason behind both these oddities’. In the preceding two paragraphs, find two words/phrases that mean the same as ‘oddities’.

Answer:

(i) peculiarities
(ii) curious characteristics

Question 3:

How is a cricket bat different from a hockey stick?

Answer:

Unlike a hockey stick, a cricket bat is not curved at the bottom. The width of a bat is 4 inches whereas the width of a hockey stick is smaller.

Question 4:

India joined the world of Test cricket before Independence.

Answer:

TRUE

Question 5:

The colonisers did nothing to encourage the Parsis in playing cricket.

Answer:

TRUE

Question 6:

Palwankar Baloo was India’s first Test captain.

Answer:

FALSE

Question 7:

Australia played its first Test against England as a sovereign nation.

Answer:

FALSE

Question 8:

In ‘‘the triumph of the one day game’’, ‘triumph’ means the one day game’s

  1. superiority to Test cricket.
  2. inferiority to Test cricket.
  3. achievement and success over Test cricket.
  4. popularity among viewers
Answer:

popularity among viewers.

Question 9:

“...the men for whom the world is a stage”.
Mark the right answer.

  1. It refers to the famous cricket fields in the world.
  2. It means that there are many cricket playing countries in the world.
  3. It implies that cricketers are actors and every cricket ground is like a stage on which the drama of cricket is enacted the world over.
Answer:

It implies that cricketers are actors and every cricket ground is like a stage on which the drama of cricket is enacted the world over.

Question 10:

Name some stick-and-ball games that you have witnessed or heard of.

Answer:

Hockey, baseball, cricket and golf are some of the stick- and-ball-games that I have seen or heard of.

Question 11:

The Parsis were the first Indian community to take to cricket. Why?

Answer:

The Parsis were the first Indian community to take to cricket as they were close to the British because of their interest in trade and westernised way of living.

Question 12:

The rivalry between the Parsis and the Bombay Gymkhana had a happy ending for the former. What does ‘a happy ending’ refer to?

Answer:

The rivalry between the Parsis and the Bombay Gymkhana had a happy ending for the Parsis as they defeated the Bombay Gymkhana, a white-only club, in the game of cricket.

Question 13:

Do you think cricket owes its present popularity to television? Justify your answer.

Answer:

Yes, cricket owes its present popularity to television. It is television that has made it possible for small city dwellers and villagers to enjoy international cricket matches.

Question 14:

Why cricket has a large viewership in India, not in China or Russia?

Answer:

Cricket has a large viewership in India because here the players are best paid and they are very popular. Moreover, cricket is hardly played in China or Russia.

Question 15:

What do you understand by game’s (cricket) equipment?

Answer:

Cricket equipment means the material used for playing the game of cricket. It includes bat, ball, stumps, bails, pads, helmet, etc.

Question 16:

How is Test cricket a unique game in many ways?

Answer:

Test cricket is a unique game because it is the only game which can continue for five days and still end in a draw. Not just that, the Test cricket is slower as well as costlier than other games.

Question 17:

How is cricket different from other team games?

Answer:

Cricket is different from other team games because most other team sports such as hockey and football lay down the dimensions of the playing area. Cricket does not. It is also the most time and money consuming game.

Question 18:

How have advances in technology affected the game of cricket?

Answer:

The advancement in technology has affected the protective equipment of cricket. Nowadays vulcanised rubber is used for pads and gloves. Helmets made out of lightweight materials are also commonly used.

Question 19:

Explain how cricket changed with the changing times and yet remained unchanged in some ways.

Answer:

Cricket changed with the changing times and yet remained unchanged. Some of its important tools like bat and ball are all made of natural, pre-industrial materials. They are hand made. But protective equipment such as pads, gloves and helmet, have undergone changes due to technological advancements.

Question 20:

Use the following phrases appropriately in place of the italicised words in the sentences given below.

(i) Actually, I didn’t intend to come to your place. I reached here without planning. (ii) Sunil, there’s a letter for you in today’s post. There is one for me also. (iii) Everybody thought I had composed the poem. The truth is my younger sister did it. (iv) The doctor told the patient to make sure that he took his pills on time. (v) It will be better for us to plan our trip before setting out.

Answer:

(i) by accident (ii) as well (iii) as a matter-of-fact (iv) see to it (v) we had better

Question 21:

Complete each of the following words using gh, ff or f. Then say each word clearly after your teacher.
(i) e______ort (ii) ______act (iii) con______ess (iv) lau______ing
(v) enou______ (vi ) hal______ (vii) scru______ (viii) rou ______
(ix) sti______ly (x) di______erence (xi) sa______ety (xii) ______lush.

Answer:

(i) effort (ii) fact (iii) confess (iv) laughing (v) enough (vi) half (vii) scruff (viii) rough (ix) stiffly (x) difference (xi) safety (xii) flush

Question 22:

Write two paragraphs describing a bus ride to watch a cricket match in a village. Use the following points. Add some of your own.

Answer:

Last Sunday, I decided to go to a village fair to watch a cricket match. It was to be played between the two village teams. I hired a rickshaw and reached the bus stand. I boarded a bus that was old and over-crowded. I could hardly find space to stand on my feet. It was a two-hour journey. The road was full of pits. Finally, I reached.
The match was being played in an open ground. It was being played with makeshift stumps and a rubber ball. There were no regular bats. The two batsmen had bats that were nothing but washing rods. Though amateur, the players played efficiently and scored quite well. The match was exciting but the journey was quite tiring.