Bat signed by MS Dhoni-led 2011 World Cup-winning team fetches big money in auction

Bengaluru, December 25: Digital rights of bat signed by MS Dhoni-led 2011 World Cup-winning team and David Warner's signed Indian Premier League (IPL) jersey were sold for massive price at world's first authentic cricket augmented reality non-fungible token (NFT) auction, conducted by CricFlix in association with RevSportz and Fanatic Sports in Dubai.

With fierce bidding to get hands on the historic digital artifacts, a bat signed by the Indian team, which handed the country the One-day International World Cup after 28 years, was sold for $25,000 (INR 18,76,000) as per a media release.

However, Australia batsman Warner's 2016 IPL-winning signed jersey topped the chart with the highest bid of $30,000 (INR 22,51,200).

Sachin Tendulkar's retirement Test ticket, the first day cover signed and a jersey signed were the first ones to go under the hammer and were picked up by ardent fan Amal Khan from Mumbai for $40,000 (INR 30,01,600).

"The Cricket NFT AR market store auction was a 100 per cent record breaking success having sold out all 23 items in one NFT auction. The entire catalogue was sold out for $ 335,950 (Approximately INR 2.5 Crore) Cricflix has affirmed its position as the pioneer in the AR NFT Spacez. Cricflix has already captured around 960+ of the worlds rarest ever cricket memorabilia in their purest form to Digital and already started preserving them in Blockchain for the future generations," said Anwar Hussein, Co- Founder of CricFlix.

With an exclusive collection of 23 rare artifacts of world cricket, including the official souvenir and team autographs from India's maiden tour to England in 1932 were sold for $14,500 (INR 10,88,080) and $14,000 (INR 10,50,560) respectively. The CricFlix's auction roaster also saw the Don Brandman signed NFT stamp being sold for $26,600 (INR19,96,064).

Lata Mangeshkar concert recording for the 1983 World Cup-winning team was bought for $21,000 (INR 15,75,840) while Balasaheb Thackeray cartoons and autographs from India's first tour of Pakistan in 1952 were auctioned for $15,000 (INR 11,25,600).

Digital rights of India's first-ever Test skipper CK Naiyudu's collection, including his original bank account book and passport, were sold for $7500 (INR 5,62,800) and $9800 (INR 7,35,392) respectively.

Veteran India pacer Jhulan Goswami's 2017 World Cup semi-final jersey fetched $10,000 (INR 7,50,400). It was also the first-ever NFT from the women's cricketing world.

Sports NFTs have emerged as the game-changing digital assets and CricFlix's rare AI based NFT auction provides fans once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to not only acquire unique ownership rights on these historic collectables but also generate revenue and experience some of the best fan moments.

"We are delighted with the response. It will be a unique, exciting, and fulfilling experience for the fans to not just enjoy financial benefits but also experience top sporting moments across the globe.

This collaboration between Cricflix, Revsport, and Fanatic Sports is a game-changer and sets a new benchmark in future NFT auctions." said Raghav Gupta, Founder & CEO, Fanatic Sports.