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 at an auction here. 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.