Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya has been fined INR 12 lakh for maintaining a slow over-rate in Match 9 of IPL 2025 against Gujarat Titans (GT). The match took place on Saturday (March 29) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Batting first, Shubman Gill’s GT posted a total of 196, with Sai Sudharsan top-scoring with 63 runs.
Pandya was MI’s standout bowler, picking up 2/29. MI had already faced a penalty for their slow over-rate, as they were restricted to only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle in the final over of GT’s innings. In response, MI had a shaky start, losing two early wickets in the powerplay.
Despite contributions from Suryakumar Yadav (48) and Tilak Varma (39), they fell short by 36 runs. Skipper Hardik Pandya had a tough outing with the bat, managing only 11 runs off 17 balls.
“As this was his team’s first offence of the season under Article 2.2 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct, which pertains to minimum over-rate offences, Pandya was fined INR 12 lakh,” an official statement read.
Pandya missed MI’s IPL 2025 opener due to a similar issue. In IPL 2024, MI’s third slow over-rate offense led to his fine and one-match ban. However, the captain’s ban rule has been removed for IPL 2025.
Hardik Pandya reflects on MI’s defeat against GT
At the post-match presentation, MI captain Hardik Pandya voiced his disappointment over the team’s defeat to GT. While praising the opposition’s batting performance, he acknowledged that MI committed some fundamental mistakes, which contributed to their loss. He stated:
“Tough to put it together, I think in batting and bowling we were 15-20 runs short in both places. We were not professional in the field, we made basic errors and that cost us 20-25 runs and in a T20 game that is quite a lot.”
“They (GT openers) batted brilliantly, only a couple of deliveries here and there. They were quite exceptional, they didn’t take many chances, they did the right stuff, they were able to get runs without playing many risky shots. We were doing catch-up since then.”
Pandya emphasized the need for batters to show intent and adapt to the pitch conditions moving forward. He further added:
“At the moment we all need to take responsibility, it’s still early stages. Batters have to come to the party, hopefully they do that soon. On this wicket they (slower deliveries) were the toughest balls, some were shooting, some were bouncing, as batters it becomes difficult. They (GT bowlers) did what I did with the ball.”
Get the latest cricket news here, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more such updates.
