England wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler has joined the fight against coronavirus and will be auctioning the shirt he wore during the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand to raise funds for two London-based hospitals.
England had managed to defeat the Kiwis in the final of the 2019 World Cup by the barest of margins as both normal 50 overs-action and super over ended in a tie.
The hosts win the final on the basis of boundary-countback rule, and it was Buttler who broke the stumps during the last ball of the super-over, denying New Zealand their first World Cup win.
Buttler posted a video message on Instagram and wrote: "I'm going to be auctioning my World Cup Final shirt to raise funds for the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity. Last week they launched an emergency appeal to provide lifesaving equipment to help those affected during the COVID-19 outbreak".
In the video, Buttler says: "Hello everyone, I hope you are all safe and well and staying at home. As we all know, hospitals, doctors, nurses and the NHS are all doing an incredible job at the moment and in the weeks and months to come they are going to need our support even more so".
"Last week, the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital's charity launched an emergency appeal to provide lifesaving equipments for those two hospitals, specialising in lung and heart conditions in preparation for the COVID-19 outbreak. To help with their fundraising effort, I'm going to be donating my World Cup final shirt, signed by all the players who were members of that squad," he added.
The UK is also facing a severe brunt of the coronavirus outbreak with at least 22,400 confirmed cases and 1,412 deaths. Many in the UK believe that the country is just weeks behind Italy in facing the peak of the disease and hospitals can be overwhelmed by the patients seeking medical assistance.
The coronavirus that first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year has infected 800,049 persons globally and has killed 38,714 people as per the data provided by Johns Hopkins University.
(With ANI Inputs)
