With their season in danger of coming to an early end, Gujarat Lions have bolstered their squad by roping in Irfan Pathan and Ankit Soni as the replacement for Dwayne Bravo and Shivil Kaushik respectively.

Both Bravo and Kaushik have been ruled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League. Bravo, who had arrived in India recovering from a hamstring injury, did not play a single game this season while Kaushik played three games without making much of an impact.

Kaushik, who grabbed the headlines in last year’s IPL because of his unique and unorthodox action, conceded 109 runs in three matches at an economy of 9.54 without taking a single wicket.

The news was confirmed, on Wednesday evening (April 26), by an official release.

“Gujarat Lions have signed all-rounders Irfan Pathan and Ankit Soni as replacements for the injured Dwayne Bravo and Shivil Kaushik for the remained 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 Bravo has been replaced by Pathan, who has represented India in 29 Tests, 120 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 24 T20 Internationals.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 official statement stated.

“Kaushik’s replacement is the 23-year-old Soni, an all-rounder from Mumbai. Gujarat Lions’ next IPL 2017 encounter is against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday 27th April at Bengaluru,” the release added.

Meanwhile, the Lions, who had finished the last season as the table-toppers, will be desperately hoping that the inclusion of these two players changes their deteriorating fortunes in the league.

With just two wins in their seven matches, they are languishing at the bottom of the table and need to win almost every game to make it to the playoffs.