Sourav Ganguly confirms Virender Sehwag will deliver Pataudi Lecture on January 12: Report

Former India batsman Virender Sehwag has been zeroed in to deliver the 7th Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi Lecture in Mumbai on January 12, 2020. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly confirmed to a leading sports network that Sehwag will indeed be delivering the lecture. The lecture will take place alongside the annual BCCI Awards two days before the India-Australia ODI to be played in the city.

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Virender Sehwag to deliver Pataudi Lecture 2020

According to reports, it was speculated that Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar could deliver the memorial lecture, which has been organised by the BCCI since 2013. However, Tendulkar has some other commitments, due to which the board finally decided to go ahead with Virender Sehwag, who has played 104 Tests, 251 ODIs and 19 T20Is for India. The Pataudi Memorial Lecture was established to honour the former Indian captain, who passed away in 2011. The inaugural lecture was delivered by Sunil Gavaskar on February 20, 2013 at the Taj Coromandel Hotel in Chennai.

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In the past, Sunil Gavaskar, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Farokh Engineer have delivered the lecture. Last year, former England batsman Kevin Pietersen had delivered the lecture in Bengaluru. When contacted, Virender Sehwag himself confirmed the development by claiming that he had accepted Ganguly's offer for the honour.

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Virender Sehwag to celebrate New Year's in Dubai with wife Aarti Sehwag

On Wednesday, the former India opener took to Instagram to post a selfie along with his wife Aarti Sehwag before leaving for Dubai to celebrate the New Year. He captioned the photo "Dubai bound #merrychristmas #dillikisardi se rahat @aartisehwag". His former India and Delhi Capitals teammate Umesh Yadav liked the post, while Virender Sehwag's good friend and West Indies' dynamic opener Chris Gayle responded to the tweet with a high-five.

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