Don Bradman's Baggy Green, Gifted to Indian Opponent In 1947-48 Series, Sold For Over Rs 4 Crore
Sriranga Wasudev Sohoni's family preserved the cap for the last 75 years, never exhibited publicly, before it was sold on Monday by Lloyds Auctions.
A Baggy Green cap worn by Australia batting legend Don Bradman during a home Test series against India in 1947-48 and gifted to opponent player Sriranga Wasudev Sohoni was on Monday sold for a whopping USD 460,000 (Rs 4.2 crore approx.) at an auction. Sohoni's family preserved the cap for the last 75 years, never exhibited publicly, before it was sold on Monday by Lloyds Auctions. The baggy green is adorned with the Australian cricket coat of arms, with “1947-48” embroidered underneath. The 1947-48 contest against India was Bradman's final home Test series before retiring in 1948 with a career batting average of 99.94, earning him the reputation as cricket's greatest batter.
The series marked India's first Test tour of Australia as an independent nation.
Led by Lala Amarnath, the Indian team faced a formidable Australian side captained by Don Bradman. Australia dominated, winning 4–0 with one match drawn.
Terming the cap a “holy grail of cricket” during the auction, Lee Hames, the chief operating officer of Lloyds Auctioneers and Valuers, said that Sohoni's "dying wish was to have the cap return to Australian shores", reported The Guardian newspaper.
“It has been hidden for 75 years, that's over three generations under lock and key,” Hames was quoted as saying in the report.
“If you were a family member you were only allowed to look at it when you were 16 years old for five minutes.” A spokesperson for Lloyds Auctions said the cap would now remain in Australia and “will be put on display at a prominent museum”.
On the inside of the cap, the names “D.G. Bradman” and “S.W. Sohoni” are inscribed.
The report said bids for the baggy green started at USD 1, garnering significant interest from buyers in person and online from around Australia, India and the UK -- ultimately selling for USD 460,000 before the addition of a 16.5% buyer's premium.
“Cherished in the family collection ever since, this cap links you to Don Bradman's invincible era and a memorable exchange with the Indian squad,” the cap's auction description said, according to the report.
“A baggy green he personally gifted, carefully preserved by the same family for 75 years and still in remarkable condition, is a piece of history with genuine national importance and one rarely seen outside private hands.” There are 11 known Bradman baggy greens in existence -- from an era when Test cricketers wore a different cap for each series, unlike modern Australian players.
Bradman's first cap, from his 1928 debut season, sold for USD 450,000 in 2020. The baggy green he wore on his last tour, to England in 1948, went for USD 425,000 in 2003 – later resold for about USD 400,000 in 2008.
In 2024, his “sun faded and worn” baggy green sold at auction for USD 479,700 -- a record high for a cap worn by Bradman.
The record price for a baggy green belongs to Shane Warne, which raised USD 1,007,500 for the Australian Red Cross bushfire appeal in 2020.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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