Veteran Bangladesh all-rounder and former national captain Shakib Al Hasan has raised almost $24,000 (Dh 88,000) for funding to help the fight against the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country by auctioning his favorite bat that he used to in the 2019 World Cup in England last year.
The 33-year-old, who is currently serving a two-year ban by ICC for failing to report a match-fixing attempt, followed teammate Mushfiqur Rahim, who had also auctioned his bat with which he scored maiden double Test ton to help in the fight against the COVID-19 crisis, and donated his special bat in the noble cause.
Read Also: Shakib-Al-Hasan to auction his 2019 World Cup bat to raise funds for COVID-19 fight
Arif R. Hossain, the co-founder of an organization established to raise funds for charity, has revealed that a New York-based Bangladeshi emerged as the highest bidder during the online auction held on Wednesday (April 23) on Facebook.
Hossain told AFP: “It was our first initiative. We are really happy with the response.”
The bid was started from its base price of 500,000 BDT [Bangladeshi Taka], and Shakib’s bat with which he scored more than 600 runs in the World Cup last year, fetched four times the base amount – the amount will go towards funding his foundation in the battle against the pandemic in Bangladesh.
The all-rounder, who is due to resume international cricket in October 2020 as one year of his ban was suspended, was overwhelmed by the support as he thanked all for the love and kindness in a long Facebook post after the auction on Wednesday evening.
The Facebook post reads: “Thank you for wholeheartedly participating in the bidding of my special 2019 WC bat through the charity auction held by Auction4Action. Thanks to all of you, it was sold for BDT 20,00,000.00 and all proceeds will go to The Shakib Al Hasan Foundation which will utilize every taka for helping those in need.”
It continued, “We are facing a challenge we have never seen before and need to help each in every possible way to win this war. Let's thank all the celebrated personalities who will take part in this amazing auction and help donate to their chosen charities. Hopefully, I will be able to take part again soon with some other memorabilia of mine worth some value to you all. Thanks again for all the support and kindness. I feel my strongest when I receive such love from you.”
He has also reportedly paid around 1.9 million takas ($23,000) to his farm workers on Wednesday.
Noteworthy, Bangladesh has been also badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, as the total 4186 positive cases and 127 deaths have been recorded so far in the country, but the low testing rates have led health experts to believe the real figures are far higher.
(With AFP Inputs)
