Shahid Afridi is one such cricketer who has a lucky bat, and he promises never to give it away or auction it off. And hey, it’s not just any bat; it is a bat with a history and a story; if it could write, I’m sure it would pen down a long and illustrious autobiography. And if one of us owned it, surely we would treasure it too.
The bat originally belonged to master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who gifted it to former Pakistan Captain Waqar Younis who then passed it on to Shahid Afridi, who was just making it big at that time, with a blessing: “it could prove lucky as it belonged to a great player.” It is also the bat with which he smashed the world’s fastest ODI hundred, in 37 balls, against Sri Lanka in October 2006.
Shahid Afridi has received countless offers to auction the bat, and no doubt, it would fetch an unbelievable amount of money, but Afridi resists all temptation to part with it. The bat carries a lot of good cricketing memories and sentimental value for him.
“Waqar gave me the bat in Nairobi where I made my debut for Pakistan. He told me Tendulkar had given him the bat and asked him to make similar model bats from Sialkot,” Afridi is quoted saying. “Waqar told me the bat belonged to a great player and it could prove lucky for me so I should use it.”
With reference to his record breaking century he adds, “That record still stands today and makes me proud. I also got other good scores with this particular bat so it is very valuable for me and I have no intention to auction it off to anyone,” he added.
Afridi is currently in
Dubai, playing for his side in a series against Australia.
