Former India skipper and all-rounder Kapil Dev would deliver the annual Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture at the Cricket Club of India on Thursday, in place of the original speaker, former Pakistan captain Imran Khan.
"Imran is stuck with the political situation in Pakistan. Kapil Dev is now going to deliver the lecture on the Future of Indian Cricket," said sources connected with the function on Wednesday.
Imran, the 1992 World Cup-winning skipper, who is heading a political party in his country, was to speak on how India-Pakistan cricket can be used to bridge the gap between the two neighbouring sub-continent countries.
The sources insisted that the change of speakers at the annual lecture in memory of former Test cricket Sardesai, who died on July 2, 2007, had nothing to do with the earlier controversy, in which, another function at the CCI relating to a former Pakistan cricketer, the book release of Shoaib Akhtar's autobiography 'Controversially Yours', was cancelled.
Akhtar had made controversial remarks about two icons of the Indian squad, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, to kick up a storm in the country and the function was cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".
