Picture Credit: Twitter
During the sixth annual Chappell Foundation dinner at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the batting gloves of Virat Kohli have fetched around INR 3.2 Lakh ($5,750) in charity on September 13, Wednesday. The 34-year-old wore those batting gloves while scoring a match-winning 82* off 53 balls against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), during the Super 12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup last year.
The former Indian coach and the Australian cricket great Greg Chappell co-founded The Chappell Foundation in collaboration with Darshak Mehta, a businessman from Australia. “The Chappell Foundation raises funds for frontline charities who provide shelter, care, education, training and a better future to homeless young people,” reads what we do section on their official website.
In their press release, the Chappell Foundation stated, as quoted by Times of India, “Harv Kler won a spirited bidding contest with two other Indian-Australian businessmen for the gloves the great batsman donated to the Foundation after his slashing MCG innings.”
Darshak Mehta shared his thoughts on the charity dinner and said, “This was our best Annual Dinner in terms of funds raised for homeless young people and probably the best for the spirit of giving in the Noble Dining Room that night. It takes the total we have raised since 2017 for homelessness charities beyond $5 million. A lot of the credit goes to the Indian community in Australia, who always respond warmly to our blending of charity and cricket.”
The Chappell Foundation charity dinner was attended by the who’s who of Australian cricket, including the likes of Ian and Trevor Chappell, Michael Bevan, Geoff Lawson, and Brett Lee, among others. The Chairman of Cricket Australia (CA) Mike Baird and CEO Nick Hockley were also present at the event, along with the former Prime Minister John Howard and the former New South Wales Prime Minister Barry O’Farrell.
