IPL 10: Irfan Pathan to join Gujarat Lions as replacement for Dwayne Bravo

Veteran Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan is all set to join the Gujarat Lions camp for the remaining part of the IPL 10. He has been named as the replacement for all-rounder Dwayne Bravo in the Gujarat squad. Bravo had to bow out of the tournament as he failed to recover from his hamstring injury.

He was ruled out of the tournament and the owner of Gujarat Lions, Keshav Bansal, had officially announced the news. The GL think tank were keen on replacing Bravo with a like-for-like replacement. They had the pool of available players to pick from.

The Lions have certainly managed to surprise all by going in with an Indian cricketer even for an overseas star. However, the move has to be commended as a smart one. Irfan Pathan has been a perennial performer in the Indian domestic circuit for years now.

Earlier in the auctions this year, Irfan had gone unsold. The fact that he found no takers in the auction had surprised many cricket pundits. Considering the amount of experience Irfan brings to the table, the sight to see him go unsold was beyond the levels of basic understanding.

The left-arm swing bowler last played competitive cricket a month ago in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Baroda. He was impressive in the 50-over domestic tournament with both bat and the ball. He ensured that he had crucial wickets to his name in the tournament and even hit an unbeaten 50 in a fixture against Assam. His most recent T20 appearance was for the West Zone in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Last year, the Baroda all-rounder was with the Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League. It was surprising to see him being benched for the major part of the season. He had got only four games under his belt.

The 32-year-old tweeted to confirm the news and said that he was excited to join Suresh Raina and co. for the remainder of the campaign.