The Shyam Bhatia Cricket Museum

The Shyam Bhatia Cricket Museum, arguably one of the world's finest cricket galleries, opened on April 18, 2010. Haroon Lorgat, Chief Executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), unveiled the gallery in the presence of all ICC Board members. This gallery houses priceless memorabilia from the game and can delight any sports lover. Addressing the gathering, Lorgat said: "This gallery reflects Bhatia's love and passion for the game. He has made an immense contribution to the game by distributing cricket kits to needy children around the world, and this gallery is an expression of his love for the game."

Bhatia then explained the reason for setting up this gallery: "I had a small gallery nearly five years ago, but once my memorabilia kept increasing, I had to build another one. This one is four times bigger than the previous one."

He further elaborated on his vision for the gallery, emphasizing its educational value: "I want everyone who visits this gallery to absorb the history of the game. On every wall, I have painted the history of each cricket playing nation. Additionally, one can read the history of the World Cup and re-live its great moments."

Bhatia then went on to add, 'I want everyone, especially youngsters, to learn about past cricketers and understand how the game has evolved in every country and become so popular.”

For Bhatia, the World Cup history recalls the exciting moments he has witnessed firsthand from stadiums around the world. He proudly mentioned that he has attended the semi-final and final matches of all the World Cup tournaments held so far.

The gallery walls are filled with autographed cricket bats and caricatures of great cricketers. Bhatia also mentioned about featuring 72 cricketers in his book "Portraits Of The Game," and that he has collected 72 bats autographed by the players with their profiles. Among his prized collection is a bat autographed by the legendary Sir Don Bradman.

An illustration of all World Cup winning captains from 1975 to 2019, autographed by all of them is prominently displayed here. There are also cricket bats autographed by all winning captains with their career profiles embossed on them.

Visitors can also get to see cricket balls autographed by legendary bowlers such as Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, Wasim Akram, Richard Hadlee, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, and Michael Holding, all placed in glass cubicles. The sunroof of the gallery features superimposed cricket figures.

Additionally, the gallery houses a library with rare books. One can find books by Neville Cardus and Ranjitsinhji, books on the battle for the Ashes from 1928, and biographies of almost all cricketers. Old sports magazines from different countries and original paper clippings talking about some of the great matches can be read here. Many schools children from the UAE have been regularly visiting this museum. Visiting teams like South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, while playing in UAE, have also visited this museum.

A giant television screen continuously displays some of the great moments from Sharjah tournaments and exciting moments from world cricket, all of which are from Bhatia's rare DVD collections.

The walls are also adorned with moments from the Shyam Bhatia annual awards for outstanding UAE cricketers and his distribution of cricket kits around the world as part of his "Cricket for Care" program.

Bhatia's dedication and passion for the game is clearly evident all over this gallery and little wonder that it is being talked about as one of the world's finest cricket museums.