Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya will miss his side's opening match of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season, which will be against fellow five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Chepauk on March 23. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday announced the schedule of IPL 2025. Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the opening match at Eden Gardens on March 23, a Saturday.
While last season's runner's up SunRisers Hyderabad will host Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the first match on Sunday, MI will be on the road in the second match of the day at Chennai.
However, five-time champions MI will be without their captain Hardik. For the unversed, Hardik was suspended for one match after MI's last group stage match of IPL 2024 against Lucknow Super Giants. He was also fined Rs 30 lakh for maintaining a slow over rate.
"Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over rate during their IPL 2024 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on May 17," an official IPL statement had said.
"As it was his team's third offence of the season under the IPL's Code of Conduct relating to minimum over rate offences, Pandya was fined Rs 30 lakh and banned from playing the team's next match," it added.
After serving the ban against CSK, Hardik will be back for the franchise's second match against Gujarat Titans on March 29.
In Hardik's absence, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah are all in contention to lead MI against CSK.
Rohit was sacked as skipper by Mumbai, replacing him with Hardik ahead of IPL 2024. Hardik was booed by MI fans, both at Wankhede and away from home during matches.
The two were reported to have rift, and this did affect the team dynamics as MI finished bottom of the pile. However, that issue is in past and the two will be united as ever in MI's bid for a sixth IPL title this year.
