British PM auctions valuable Sachin bat

British Prime Minister David Cameron has auctioned a cricket bat that he described two weeks ago as his most treasured possession.

Cameron raised a few laughs at a gathering of Conservative Friends of India when he talked about his horror at finding his wife, Samantha, playing French cricket in the grounds of Chequers with a bat that had been signed for him by Indian cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar.

Batting for a cause: David Cameron raised Rs 3 lakh by auctioning a cricket bat for charity that had been signed for him by Sachin Tendulkar.u00a0File pics

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"I said, ‘No, darling, put it down, this is probably the most valuable possession I have'," he told his Indian audience.

The prime minister clearly decided it needed a safer home.

Two weeks on, David Cameron has auctioned the bat, presented to him by the celebrated Indian, to raise money for the Rwanda Cricket Stadium Foundation. It fetched £3,400 (Rs 3 lakh)

The auction dinner, in the Long Room at Lord's, was to commemorate the life of Christopher Shale, Cameron's constituency chairman, who was found dead at the Glastonbury festival last summer.

Shale's son Edo says the event raised almost £1,30,000 (Rs 1.12 crore).

"We are all delighted and a little exhausted," he said.

"These funds are the springboard this charity needs to take us into the construction phase of the cricket stadium."