Calcutta: The Vijay Mallya-owned UB Group, which is sponsoring the celebrations to mark the 25th year of India’s landscape-changing World Cup win at Lord’s, will also be auctioning a very special bat.

In what’s quite appropriate for Kapil Dev and his men, Lords of ’83 is the theme of the celebrations.

The bat, which will be autographed by the 14-member squad, is going to be studded with diamonds and rubies and will be put under the hammer either in London or in Mumbai.

Particularly laudable is that the proceeds from the auction will be “divided equally” among the players and manager P.R. Man Singh.

“We’re working with a leading auction house and a reserve price will be announced once we know the value of the diamonds and rubies (being crafted by the Gitanjali Group). Whatever is raised will be divided equally among the 14 players and the manager,” a spokesperson for the UB Group told The Telegraph on Saturday.

The auction, though, will be held a couple of weeks after the June 25 black tie-dinner at the Lord’s Long Room, the showpiece event of the celebrations.

Mallya, incidentally, will also be hosting a golf tournament. That’s at the Jaypee Greens (Noida) on the morning of June 22.

Cricketers who’ve turned to golf are going to team up with head honchos from the world of business.

The Board’s dinner too is on June 22, in New Delhi.

Kapil and Co. leave for London on June 24 (aboard Air India) and their first formal engagement on reaching there will be the next morning — a visit to Lord’s and a return to the dressing room and its history-oozing balcony which saw such emotional scenes exactly a quarter of a century ago.

In a nice gesture, the spouses have also been invited.

Footnote: “We haven’t reached the stage of a special flight yet… Abhi itne upar nahin gaye hain… This time, we’re taking a regular service… However, when the 50th year comes around, we’ll definitely be chartering an aircraft,” quipped Kapil.