Farokh Engineer's India cap sold for Rs 57,000 in an auction in London

Former Indian captain and wicket-keeper Farook Engineer’s Indian Test cap and the Rest of the World Blazer were sold for £680 (Rs 57,000 approx) and £700 (Rs 59,000) respectively at an auction in London very recently.

The royal blue cap and the duck egg blue blazer which Engineer wore during the series between Rest of the World and Australia in 1971 went under the hammer on November 7 at Sotheby’s in London’s Bond Street. Both the items were bought as per their expected range of £750 to £1,000.

Graham Budd auctions couldn’t reveal the name of the buyer as per the policy but did mention that the items weren’t purchased by an Indian. It was learned that the cap and the blazer were purchased a former English cricketer and according to the firm’s catalogue, the items were presented by Engineer to the former English cricketer.

A member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, Madan Lal’s 1974 India blazer was also sold but it fetched only £420 (Rs 35000). On the other hand, former Australian great Dennis Lillee’s baggy green fetched a whopping £7000 (Rs 5.90 lakh) and considering the value of a baggy green all around the world, the amount didn’t surprise Budd.

The former wicket-keeper of the Parsi community, Engineer made his debut for the national team against England in 1961 and soon became a permanent member of the team. He continued to serve his nation for the next 13 years playing 46 Tests in the process. He was a very impressive wicket keeper, keeping against the likes of Chandrasekhar, Prasanna, Bedi and Venkataraghavan. To go with his keeping he was a pretty useful and aggressive batsman contributing to the team total on numerous occasions.

The style icon of the yester years, Engineer played his last Test against West Indies in 1975. He was also awarded “Indian Cricketer of the year” in 1965 and was awarded the Padma Shri in 1973.