Hardik Pandya Is Banned, MI Captain Will Miss First Match Of IPL 2025 Due To....

Hardik Pandya will miss first match of IPL 2025. Photo: AP

Hardik Pandya will continue as the captain of Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2025 . MI, who retained five players on the retention day, confirmed that Hardik will continue as their captain. But Hardik is banned for one game and he will not be leading Mumbai Indians in their season opener. India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav will be a strong contender to lead MI.

Many would be wondering why Hardik is banned from MI's first game of IPL 2025. And why did the BCCI ban Hardik one year in advance? Hardik was banned after MI's last game of IPL 2024 due to slow over-rate. Under the BCCI's rules, a captain is fined Rs 12 lakh for the first slow over-rate offence.

A captain is fined Rs 24 lakh and the rest of the players are also fined if a team fails to complete full overs in the stipulated time. A captain has to pay a hefty fine of Rs 30 lakh and the players are also fined in case of a third over-rate offence.

Apart from getting fined, the captain is also banned for one game. Hardik-led MI failed to complete 20 overs in the stipulated time in three matches. Their third over-rate offence was against Lucknow Super Giants in their last game of the season. Hardik has to serve the one-match ban and he will miss MI's first game of IPL 2025.

Players retained by Mumbai Indians

Apart from Hardik, Mumbai Indians retained Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma , Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Bumrah was MI's first-choice retention and he will have a salary of Rs 18 crore.

Suryakumar, Rohit and Tilak were retained for Rs 16.35 crore, 16.30 crore and 8 crore, respectively. MI have one RTM card left, which they can only use on an uncapped player. MI will enter the IPL 2025 mega-auction with a purse of Rs 45 crore.

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