DUBAI // The UAE’s only cricket museum is on the lookout for a new home to make room for its growing collection.
The museum, built in 2010 and opened to the public in 2012, takes up 3,000 square feet of Shyam Bhatia’s Jumeirah home.
“I need to find a place outside,” said the cricket fan, who began his collection in 1981.
“If a government body takes it over, I can still handle the museum and its contents. Many more people will have access to it then.”
David East, chief executive of the Emirates Cricket Board, said the collection – with autographs of cricket icons such as Australian Donald Bradman and autographed bats of winning international squads – was a “wonderful cricketing oasis in Jumeirah” and would be a great draw for tourists and cricket fans alike.
“There’s a huge section of people passionate about cricket in the UAE so there would be some real interest,” he said.
“It has some iconic memorabilia that you would not expect to see in a villa in Dubai.”
Amin Farook, general secretary of the Dubai Cricket Council, said he loves the “one-of-a-kind” museum.
“For a cricket fan it’s amazing because it is an international museum,” he said.
“The best access is not inside a home, so for the promotion of cricket, it should be accessible to all. If it was outside a residence, it would open up to larger numbers.”
rtalwar@thenational.ae
