IPL 10: Gujarat Lions rope in Ankit Soni as replacement for Shivil Kaushik

The Gujarat Lions have roped in two players in their squad as injury replacements for Dwayne Bravo and Shivil Kaushik. Irfan Pathan has been named as the replacement for Dwayne Bravo and Ankit Soni comes in for Shivil Kaushik. Both Pathan and Soni will be the part of the Lions squad for the remainder of the IPL 2017. Talking about the injuries, Dwayne Bravo had come into the tournament recovering from a hamstring injury. The Gujarat camp

The Gujarat camp were confident of having his services in the second half of the tournament. However, since his recovery did not go down too well, he had to bow out of the season. On the other hand, Shivil Kaushik was also ruled out of the season after having played just 3 matches this season. The two replacements named are pretty much like for like replacements for the departed players.

Veteran Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has been an experienced campaigner in the IPL. He was associated with the Rising Pune Supergiant in the previous edition of the tournament. However, he had got only 4 matches under his belt for RPS and had a forgettable time on the Pune roster. Pathan is one of the leading swing bowling prospects of Indian cricket has been a juggernaut in the domestic circuit for Baroda in the recent times.

Ankit Soni is an all-rounder from Mumbai and is the spin bowling replacement named for Shivil Kaushik. Soni is a proven hitter of the cricket ball and is very good with his leg spin. The Gujarat Lions announced the arrival of both replacements in an official press release.

“Gujarat Lions have signed all-rounders Irfan Pathan and Ankit Soni as replacements for the injured Dwayne Bravo and Shivil Kaushik for the remainder of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017. While Bravo failed to recover in time from a hamstring injury, Kaushik featured in three matches before being ruled out of the tournament. Bravo has been replaced by Pathan, who has represented India in 29 Tests, 120 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 24 T20 Internationals. Pathan last played for the Rising Pune Supergiant and will now represent his sixth IPL franchise,” the press release noted.

Recently, both Irfan and Ankit Soni were seen practicing hard in Bengaluru ahead of the next GL clash. From the way the two players were taking hard inches on the field, it seems both will get a game straight away. Gujarat Lions take on Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 27 at Bengaluru.

Watch Ankit Soni (leg spinner) in action here:

practice session at Venus cricket ground #mumbai

A post shared by ankit soni (@ankit_soni1) on Apr 19, 2017 at 5:58am PDT