World Cup 2011: 170 bats and still going strong!

As a senior professional in the hospitality industry, Abhijit Chitnis has experienced a privilege that most cricket fans can only dream of. He has been closely associated with cricket teams from all over the world, even travelling with some of them during important tournaments.

A self-confessed cricket fanatic, Chitnis decided to make the best of his opportunity when he realised that he was indeed fortunate. And that’s when the seed of an idea to create a collection of autographed bats was sown.

Chitnis’ collection boasts of over 170 bats signed by legends of the game.

Chitnis, who is now director of sales and marketing at the Marriott Pune Hotel and Convention Centre said, “My previous assignment required me to work closely with cricket teams, Indian and other countries, during their official India visits.”

His first autographed bat happened when the New Zealand team was in India in June 2002. But it was during the period of 2004 to 2006 that the Indian team saw some hectic cricketing and his collection grew substantially in this time.

“It was only after I had about 15-20 autographed bats that I started giving this hobby a serious thought,’’ Chitnis said. He has autographed bats by teams such as the Indian cricket team for the World Cup of 2007, the Indian cricket team that emerged world champions of the T20 in 2007, and the Pakistan cricket team that toured India in 2004, after a gap of 12 years.

He also has bats autographed by the Sri Lankan cricket team that visited India in 2005 and 2008, and autographs of other teams like South Africa, England and West Indies.

As for individual cricketers, Chitnis has managed to get autographed bats from legends like Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Andrew Flintoff, Sanath Jayasuriya, Clive Lloyd and Jacques Kallis, among many others.

It is not just time that Chitnis has invested in nurturing this hobby. He said, “It’s not a cheap hobby. Maintaining each of these priceless bats is quite a task. I lived in Mumbai before this and the humid air makes the ink sweat. Pune is relatively better on this front. I have to be extra careful as fungus tends to grow on the willow.”

He has invested heavily in making wood and glass cases for each bat and de-humidifies each case from time to time. Apart from bats, Chitnis also has memorabilia — Tendulkar’s jersey signed by the Master Blaster himself, and a ball signed by Muralitharan after he became the highest wicket-taker in cricket.

“But one thing I really miss in my collection is bats autographed by Vivian Richards and Wasim Akram as these players are my all-time favourites,’’ he remarked, hoping to add these names to his collection one day.