MI skipper Hardik Pandya fined for maintaining slow over-rate, to miss first game of IPL 2025 season

Pandya received a one-match suspension, the same as Delhi Capitals (DC) captain Rishabh Pant received earlier in the season because this was the third time MI have been found guilty of the same offence.

The five-time champions' ended their IPL campaign on Friday on a bitter note, which means Pandya will miss the team's first match of the next season. However in any case the the MI skipper moves to another team in the IPL 2025, the all-rounder will miss that particular team's opening game.

This was MI's third offence to fall short of maintaining the minimum over rate. In addition to the one-match suspension, Hardik was fined Rs 30 lakh, while the Impact Player and the other members of the playing XII were each fined INR 12 lakhs or 50 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever was lower.

A statement by IPL read, "As it was his team's third offence of the season under the IPL's Code of Conduct relating to a minimum over-rate offences, Pandya was fined INR 30 lakh and banned from playing the team's next match."

"The rest of the members of the playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either Rs 12 lakh or 50 per cent of their respective match fees," the IPL statement read."

MI ended their season with an 18-run loss against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at their home Wankhede on Friday. It has been a disastrous season for the five-time champions, who managed just four wins from their 14 matches and finished at the bottom of the points table.

Meanwhile, in just 14 IPL 2024 matches, Hardik amassed 216 runs, including a 46-run maximum. The all-rounder's season began to fall apart quite early on, with an average of just 18 and a strike rate of 143.05.

Despite taking 11 wickets with the ball throughout the season, his economy rate was 10.75 and his average was 35.18. (ANI)