Sydney-based businessman of Indian origin, Ram Chhabra won bids for all three Indian cricket related items that were auctioned for charity at The Chappell Foundation’s (TCF) eighth annual dinner in Sydney on Wednesday. Australian-born Chhabra, 48, bought India opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 2024-2025 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series bat (AUD 6000, approx Rs 3.25 lakh), a bat signed by members of the Indian team which participated in the same series for AUD 4500 (approx Rs 2.43 lakh) and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant’s helmet for AUD 5000 (approx Rs 2.70 lakh). In all, he spent AUD 15,500 (approx Rs 8.5 lakh).
“I’m extremely thrilled,” Chhabra, who is in the travel business, told mid-day shortly after landing in Sydney from his Fiji office. “Getting memorabilia signed on equipment that has been used is very rare,” Ram Chhabra said, referring to the bat of Jaiswal, who shrugged off his first innings duck in the opening Test at Perth to score a match-winning 161 for India to go one-up in the series there.
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India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal celebrates his century vs Australia at Perth in November 2024
“Having the signed helmet that has been used [by Pant] is a big deal. Getting a bat signed by a team is special, but getting a signed one from a champion team is very special.”
Some members of India’s 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy team were in Rohit Sharma’s side that won last year’s T20 World Cup.
India’s Rishabh Pant (right) after being hit on the helmet by Mitchell Starc during the Sydney Test in 2021. Pics/Getty Images
Chhabra is also happy that the money he spent is going for a good cause — to help homeless people across Australia. “Australia has a serious issue about homelessness and it’s getting worse as the cost of living here goes higher and higher,” he said. Chhabra’s purchases were made through a secret auction (electronically conveyed bids) at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where he is a regular for matches.
He praised TCF’s Indian-born, Australia resident chairman, Darshak Mehta: “Darshak has been a great ambassador of TCF and has spent a lot of time and effort over the years to build a lot of attention around the homeless issue.”
