Dubai: A new addition to his cricket museum is making Shyam Bhatia, a city-based industrialist and cricket enthusiast, very proud.
The England Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has sent him a bat signed by members of the England and Indian teams of the just-concluded Test series — including that of two superachievers from the host team — Alastair Cook and James Anderson.
“I am really grateful for this wonderful gesture from Colin Graves, chairman of ECB, who had visited my museum about a year back. He was impressed by what he saw and promised to send me a memento at the soonest. The recent series had been a wonderful advertisement for Test cricket and what’s more, the bat bears autographs of the highest scorer in Tests for England [Cook] and the highest wicket-taker among pace bowlers [Anderson],” Bhatia said.
Bhatia, who hosts an annual award with fanfare at his villa to appreciate the local achievers in the sport, was hosted by Graves during the second Test at the Lord’s. He now has plans to give a makeover to his museum, which has well over 2000 artefacts from the game, by taking it outside his residence to a new venue. “I am in talks with government officials regarding the project,” he added.
