KARACHI: A cricket museum based in India has bought a bat auctioned by Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali to raise funds for the needy during the ongoing crisis of Covid-19 pandemic.

Azhar had put two of his precious belongings — the bat he used to score 302 runs against the West Indies in a Test in 2016 and the jersey he wore during the 2017 Champions Trophy final win over India — on an online auction to raise funds for the people affected by the deadly disease.

Both the bat and jersey were signed by members of the Pakistan team.

The Pakistan had announced on social media that he had kept a base price of one million each for the bat and jersey and they had been sold for Rs2.2 million, said a report of Press Trust of India on The New Indian Express website.

He confirmed that Blades of Glory Cricket Museum, based in Pune, bought the bat by making a winning offer of Rs1 million for the bat.

Azhar said that the auction of the shirt also generated a lot of interest and Kash Villani, a Pakistani based in California, came up with the highest bid of Rs.1.1 million for the shirt before the conclusion of the auction.

Jamal Khan, another Pakistani based in New Jersey, also donated Rs100,000 for the cause.

“I put two of my closest belongings on auction with base price of 1 million PKR each to support people suffering due to the ongoing crisis. Auction starts now and will close on 11:59 PM 05 May, 2020,” Azhar had tweeted.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020