Legendary Bangladeshi footballer Kazi Salahuddin and Bangladesh's premier cricketer Shakib Al Hasan have been dropped from the recently-printed 'English for Today' text book of Class VII by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board.

The pictures of Shakib and Salahuddin were part of eight famous sports personalities from around the world in Unit Seven of the book, first introduced in 2013, under the section titled "Games and Sports". A picture of Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar has also been dropped.

The previous print of this topic included the pictures of Brazilian football legend Pele, West Indian cricket great Brian Lara, Bangladeshi mountaineer Nishat Majumdar, American tennis great Serena Williams, Argentine football legend Diego Maradona as well as Salahuddin, Shakib and Tendulkar.

The pictures of Salahuddin, Shakib and Tendulkar have been replaced in the latest text book by those of Bangladesh football team's current captain Jamal Bhuiyan, Bangladesh women's cricket team's current captain Nigar Sultana Jyoti and legendary Bangladeshi chess player Rani Hamid.

There were separate lessons on Shakib and Salahuddin's sporting careers too, which have been omitted from the current text book.

Although Salahuddin, one of the greatest footballers of the country and a four-time president of Bangladesh Football Federation, did not have any political affiliation, he had close ties with the family of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and with deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

Shakib, one of the all-time best all-rounders in world cricket, however, was a member of parliament of Awami League government from the Magura-1 constituency.