IPL 2017: Gujarat Lions replace Shivil Kaushik with Ankit Soni

Gujarat Lions’ left-arm orthodox spinner Shivil Kaushik has been replaced by Ankit Soni for the remainder of IPL 2017. The 21-year old Kaushik, who featured in three matches for the franchise this season, has been ruled out of the tournament.

Ankit Soni, who is a leg-spinner hailing from Mumbai, has been inducted in the team which is currently languishing at the bottom of the points table with just two wins from seven matches.

Kaushik, who made waves in last year’s IPL because of his unique action, troubled batsmen with his unorthodox bowling style and skiddy deliveries. This year, however, he has been off-colour, failing to pick up even a single wicket from the three games he has featured in.

Bowling has been a big concern for Suresh Raina and his troops. West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has already been ruled out of the tournament, with Irfan Pathan being named as his replacement.

Kaushik went for 40 runs from his allotted quota of four overs in their thumping ten-wicket loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders. In the subsequent two games, he went for 29 and 36 runs respectively. Before this season, Kaushik’s last recognised game was for the same franchise in 2016, for he isn’t part of any first-class team. Kaushik caught the eye of many talent scouts with that whippy action for the Hubli Tigers in the Karnataka Premier League.

Kaushik himself admits that even he doesn’t know which way the ball will turn.His coach Anutosh Poll had once revealed, "He's a back-of-the-hand bowler. He himself confesses that he doesn't know which one will turn which way."

A press release from the Gujarat Lions said: “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 VIVO 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. Kaushik’s replacement is the 23-year-old Soni, an all-rounder from Mumbai.”.

Soni, along with Rahil Shah, had attended trials for the Lions, as reported by Sportskeeda earlier this month. Soni hasn’t made his debut for the Mumbai team yet, but has been in superb form in their domestic circles. Both Rahil Shah and Ankit Soni had put their names in the list of 351 players this season with a base price of Rs. 10 Lakhs.

Gujarat Lions’ next VIVO IPL 2017 encounter is against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday 27th April at Bengaluru.