Yusuf flies home for birth of his baby

Yusuf Pathan, the Kolkata allrounder, flew home shortly after the match against Mumbai, as news arrived that his wife had delivered their first child. A team official confirmed that Yusuf is likely to miss Kolkata's next match, which is against Delhi on April 19, but he should return in time for their third game.

Against Mumbai, Yusuf went in to bat at No. 5 with two overs left and faced just four balls, making 4 not out. He didn't get a bowl. He had been in good touch coming into the tournament, scoring 135 runs at 67.50 in four matches in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, at a strike rate of 182.43.

In the Indian T20 League, Yusuf has scored 1824 runs in 92 games with a strike rate of 146.97. He was bought back by Kolkata for Rs 3.25 crore (US$ 541,000) at the 2014 auction, where the franchise used a right-to-match card on him. In 2011, he was bought for a whopping US$ 2.1 million by the franchise, but struggled to deliver consistently.

Irfan Pathan, Yusuf's brother, tweeted the news on Thursday.