Azhar to attend Jagmohan Dalmiya memorial lecture

Kolkata, Nov 14 (IANS) Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin will be one of the guests present during late BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya memorial lecture, to be held for the first time here on Tuesday.

From this year on, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has decided to honour the celebrated cricket administrator who breathed his last two years back by organising an annual tribute function.

India's first World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev is scheduled to deliver a lecture at a plush city hotel during the function which will also see the president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Thilanga Sumathipala speak. The function is set to be attended by members of both Indian and Sri Lankan team members.

The two nations will lock horns in the first of three Tests at the Eden Gardens starting Thursday.

"He has been invited as he was the captain of the Indian team during the Hero Cup, which was the diamond jubilee celebration of the CAB," Joint Secretary Avishek Dalmiya told IANS on the sidelines of India vs Sri Lanka match preparations at the Eden on Monday.

"And he had also visited home after Mr. Dalmiya's demise, to pay his respects," Dalmiya Junior added.

India beat the West Indies by 102 runs to lift the Hero Cup under the leadership of Azharuddin. Kapil Dev was also part of the team. Besides the Windies, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe took part in the tournament.

Dalmiya served as the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the president of the BCCI in the early 2000s.

He was at the helm when the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal rocked Indian cricket in 2013 and the then incumbent president N. Srinivasan had to step aside.

In March 2015, he was re-elected as the BCCI President.