Irfan Pathan replaces Bravo in Gujarat Lions squad

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.