A cricket museum based in India near Pune has bought a bat auctioned by Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali to raise funds for the needy during the 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. Azhar announced on social media that he had kept a base price of one million each for the bat and jersey and they had sold for 2.2 million.
Talking about the jersey, it was bought by a Pakistani based out of California.Ali became the first international player to score a test triple century in Day/Night Test when he scored an unbeaten 302 against the West Indies team in UAE in 2016. “I put two of my closest belongings on auction with a 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. England cricketer Jos Buttler had also auctioned his ICC World Cup 2019 final shirt for the same cause last month for the NHS healtj care workers.
