Gavaskar to deliver Pataudi lecture

Mumbai, Feb 6 (IBNS) Iconic Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar will be delivering the inaugural Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Memorial Lecture in Chennai on Feb 20.

"The BCCI has instituted an annual tribute to one of the country´s most-loved cricketers and captains. The inaugural Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Memorial Lecture will be delivered by cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar on Wednesday, 20 February 2013, at the Taj Coromandel, Chennai," said Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Jagdale on Wednesday.

The annual lecture will be a part of the Indian Cricket season.

"It has been envisaged as a forum for a speaker from across the world to share his thoughts on the glorious game, as a way to help evolve it further. The audience will comprise likeminded individuals and other key stakeholders of the sport," said Jagdale.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, known to the cricketing world as ´Tiger,´ represented India in 46 Tests from 1961-62 to 1974-75, and scored 2,793 runs, inclusive of six centuries.

He captained the national side in forty Tests, and was in charge when India registered their first-ever Test series win on foreign soil, in New Zealand in 1967-68.

He was one of those who with his accomplishments and encouragement to the country´s junior cricketers in the 1960s, helped lay the foundation for India´s rise as a cricketing power in the subsequent decades.

"The memorial lecture will be a humble recognition of his contribution to the sport," said Jagdale.