5 Reasons that make Irfan Pathan an ideal replacement for Bravo in the GL team

Dwayne Bravo’s injury has come as a blessing in disguise for Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan who went unsold in the auction earlier this year. The left-arm medium pacer has not been getting many opportunities in the past two seasons with the Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Giants.

He went unsold in the auction but has been signed by the Gujarat Lions mid-way through the season. Irfan has been in rich form in domestic cricket and certainly deserved a spot as an allrounder. Soon after Bravo was ruled out it was speculated that the Baroda-lad could be picked for him given his attributes which make him a like for like replacement.

Here are the reasons what made Irfan a perfect replacement for Bravo.

1. Left-armer

With the inclusion of Irfan, the Gujarat Lions has another left-arm pacer along with James Faulkner in the team and considering the cap on overseas players, and that the Lions have been playing the regular overseas players in Dwayne Smith, Brendon Mccullum, Andrew Tye and Aaron Finch, Irfan will be in with a good chance of making the playing XI.

He can make the ball do the talking in shorter spells and has always been a good T20 bowler. His ability to swing the ball both ways will help in windy conditions and where the pitch offers something to the bowlers. Being a left-hander will also give him the benefit of creating different angles and making it tough for the batsmen to decipher his line and length quickly.

2. Good domestic form

Irfan’s performance in this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy also warrants him a place in the side. His captivating spell of 3/10 against North Zone where his victims were Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh and Rishabh Pant ensured that West Zone had an easy win.

He also led Baroda in the Zonal T20 tournament where he was the only player other than Deepak Hooda to be picked for the West Zone XI. His figures in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy were five wickets in four games at an average of 17.6 and an economy rate of 6.28.

3. Floater

Irfan was brought into the Indian team as a pacer who could swing the ball both ways and beat the batsmen in the air and off the deck. But after a while, his batting also came into the reckoning where it reached the point where he even occasionally opened the batting or came up at number 3, due to his ability to get going straight away and up the run rate.

The Lions can use Irfan as a surprise package and get him bat at the top order or put him in the middle order where the Lions have been exposed quite a few times. Being a left-handed batsman, and most of the Lions apart from Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja being right-handed, he can also keep the left-right combination going in the middle.

4. Experience

The dearth of good quality allrounders and the experience of a 102 IPL games has worked in Irfan’s favour. He has 80 wickets in those matches in addition to scoring 1137 runs at a strike rate of 120.57. The Lions who have been struggling in getting their combinations right in the absence of Bravo can now look to sort out their issues with the inclusion of Pathan.

Also, being a veteran of 14 years, he can look out for the youngsters in the side like Basil Thampi and guide them with strategies in a pressure situation and against a particular batsman. He looks really fit and has been putting in a lot of emphasis on fitness of late which will certainly reflect with his on-field performance.

5. An ideal replacement for Bravo

Irfan Pathan as a replacement for the Caribbean Dwayne Bravo is a good choice for one big reason: flexibility. Both Bravo and Pathan have been known for their ability to come in and bowl the first over when the ball is swinging or in the middle where the runs have to be controlled to a minimum or at the death with their variety in pace and regular change ups.

Also, both of them have the ability to come up in the batting order, Pathan maybe even more so and start whacking the ball or at the end where quick runs have to be scored. Therefore, the Baroda skipper is the ideal foil to the Gujarat Lions and was a commendable decision to include him.

– Written by Gokul Narayanan