DHAKA – Mashrafe Bin Mortaza won’t have to part away from his precious bracelet despite the belonging, which has been a part of his memorable moments for the last 18 years, was sold for whopping at an incredible price of Taka 42 lakh in an online auction.
The Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Company Association (BLFCA), the highest bidder for Mashrafe’s personalized bracelet in the auction, organized by ‘Auction 4 Action’, decided to gift it back to the former Bangladesh skipper.
“We want to give it back to Mashrafe,” BLFCA chairman Mominul Islam said during a facebook conversation with ‘Auction 4 Action’, which also connected Mashrafe to the live in a bid to announce the winner.
“We bided highest Tk 40 lakh for the bracelet but IPDC, another company which is connected to us, added five percent more with Tk 40 lakh and the amount finally stood at Tk. 42 lakh for the bracelet,” he informed.
Mominul went on saying: “Mashrafe had already told that how favourite and lucky the bracelet is for him. We know the bracelet has been with him for the last 18 years, preciously after he started his career with Bangladesh team.”
The BLFCA boss said they think the bracelet and Mashrafe should not be parted away. “So we’ve decided to give it back to him and we’ll request him to accept this gift,” he added.
Mominul also said that they will arrange a formal programme in this regard when the coronavirus situation improves.
Mashrafe, however, thanked the BLFCA to gift it back to him.
“Thanks for this kind decision. But again I said, there won’t be any hard feeling from my part if you people keep it to you because you have bought it. I have my own satisfaction that I can spend the money for the people hit hard by the coronavirus,” he said.
The ex-Bangladesh captain said that the money will go to the fund of his “Narail Express Foundation”, through which it will be spent for the COVID-19-affected people.
As a parliament member of Narail-2 constituency, Mashrafe has already taken various steps to protect his people from the deadly virus that created a mayhem worldwide.
He, however, expressed his desire to contribute more for the people of his constituency and the vulnerable cricketers for which he decided to put the bracelet up for auction.
Mashrafee’s bracelet has fetched the highest amount of the all the memorabilia auctioned by the Bangladeshi cricketers so far, more than doubling the previous highest Tk 20 lakh which Sakib al Hasan got by auctioning his 2019 World Cup bat.
Mushfiqur Rahim’s bat, with which he scored the Bangladesh’s maiden double century in Test, fetched Tk 17 lakh.
Prito Reza, one of the organizers of ‘Auction 4 Action’, said the enthusiasm to grab the bracelet, in which Mashrafe’s name was engraved, was palpable.
“After the auction began on May 16, the people literally went wild to grab it. It’s true there are some fake bidders and at one phase, we saw a guy, aged just 23, bided 23 lakh for the bracelet,” he said.
Reza continued: “We kept one eye on the fake bidders and immediately filtered those bid to give the real bidders an opportunity to fight for the bracelet.”BSS
