da cassino： Gujarat Lions have signed allrounder Irfan Pathan as a replacement for Dwayne Bravo, who was ruled out of the 2017 IPL with a hamstring injury
ESPNcricinfo staff24-Apr-2017
Irfan Pathan was unsold at the auction in February, after a poor 2016 season with Rising Pune Supergiant•BCCI
Gujarat Lions have signed allrounder Irfan Pathan as a replacement for Dwayne Bravo, who was ruled out of the 2017 IPL with a hamstring injury. Irfan, who was unsold at the auction in February at a base price of INR 50 lakhs, posted a photograph of himself wearing a Lions jersey on Twitter, and said he was “looking forward to be part of this wonderful unit.”Irfan, 32, has been part of five IPL franchises – Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rising Pune Supergiant – in the past. He has 80 wickets from 102 IPL games, apart from 1137 runs at a strike-rate of 120.57. However, he had a poor run with Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016, scoring 11 runs in three innings and going wicketless in the eight overs he bowled.Lions had hoped Bravo, who did not play a match this season, would be available for the second half of the tournament. He was undergoing rehabilitation in Rajkot, but couldn’t recover in time. “While recovery is going well and I have made vast improvement and have participated in team trainings with the Lions, my body is not ready to perform at its fullest potential,” Bravo had said in a statement.Lions also lost left-arm wristspinner Shivil Kaushik for the rest of the season through injury. Kaushik’s replacement was 23-year-old Ankit Soni, an allrounder from Mumbai.After making the playoffs last year, Lions are currently in seventh place, with two wins from seven games.