Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has raised over $23,000 [£19,000] for funding the fight against Covid-19, after auctioning a bat he used in the 2019 World Cup.

The 33-year-old, whose ongoing two-year ban by ICC has coincided with the suspension of international cricket, followed teammate Mushfiqur Rahim, who had also auctioned the bat with which he scored Bangladesh’s first Test double-hundred in 2013.

Starting off from the base price of 500,000 BDT [Bangladeshi Taka], Shakib’s bat fetched four times the base amount, before the auction, hosted on a Facebook page, ended on Wednesday evening. The funds raised by Shakib’s bat will go towards funding his foundation in their fight against the pandemic.

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“I am still ‘not out’ with that bat, I was unbeaten in my last game,” Shakib was quoted as saying by The Daily Star, mentioning how he played the entire 2019 World Cup, barring the England game, with the auctioned bat. He scored 606 runs in eight matches at an average 86.57 at the World Cup, the third highest by any batsman in the tournament.

“I could not even score a single run with the other bat and then I realized that maybe this is the bat I need to score runs with. Even I played with this bat in the last match that I played for Bangladesh against Afghanistan before being suspended.”

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Recently, India’s versatile batsman KL Rahul donated parts of his kit to raise funds, while last month, England wicketkeeper-bat Jos Buttler raised over £65,000 by auctioning the jersey he wore in the World Cup final against New Zealand.