Hardik Pandya, the captain of the Mumbai Indians, faced a fine after his team fell behind the required over-rate during their match against the Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium this past Saturday in the 2025 IPL season. According to a statement from the IPL, since this was the first time his team had committed this type of infraction this season, he was fined INR 12 lakhs.
It’s worth noting that Pandya had already missed the season opener where the Mumbai Indians played against the Chennai Super Kings due to a suspension he received last season for a similar over-rate infraction against the Lucknow Super Giants. Without him, the five-time champions really struggled. They couldn’t post a decent score against CSK, which resulted in a disappointing four-wicket loss.
Now, as of the ongoing IPL 2025 season, Pandya’s fine marks the first time a captain has been penalized for a slow over-rate. In the match, Gujarat Titans managed to beat the Mumbai Indians by 36 runs, marking their first victory of the season while MI continues to suffer their second loss in a row and is still looking for their first win.
Batting first, the Titans scored 196 runs for the loss of 8 wickets, largely thanks to Sai Sudharsan, who played a fantastic inning, scoring 63 runs off just 41 balls. On the bowling side, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj were impressive, both snatching two wickets each; Krishna with his slower balls and Siraj with his accurate seam deliveries. They helped keep MI to 160 runs for 6 in their full 20 overs.
Currently sitting in ninth place, the Mumbai Indians have yet to get on the board with any wins. Their next match is against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium, which is a big deal considering their current slump.
After the tough loss, Hardik reflected on the team’s performance, saying, “I think in both batting and bowling, we were about 15 to 20 runs short. We didn’t play professionally in the field, and we made some basic mistakes that cost us another 20 to 25 runs. In a T20 match, that’s a lot of runs to give up. The openers from Gujarat batted really well. They were cautious, managed to score runs without taking unnecessary risks, and didn’t give us many chances.”
