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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya had to bear the BCCI's brunt in a double whammy after they lose to Gujarat Titans (GT) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on March 29. Hardik Pandya has been slapped with a hefty Rs 12 lakh fine for the slow over rate offence during their match against GT.
Hardik Pandya slapped with hefty fine for slow over rate offence
And to add insult to injury, the five-time champs suffered their second consecutive defeat in the ongoing IPL 2025 following 36-run loss to GT.
"Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has been fined after his team maintained a slow over rate during Match No. 9 of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad," the IPL said in a release.
"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 lakhs," it further added.
Interestingly, this isn't Pandya's first encounter with slow over-rate penalties. It was apparently a recurring issue last season, and it even led to a suspension that kept him out of the Mumbai Indians' very first game of the IPL 2025 season against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
However, just before the IPL 2025 season kicked off, there was a bit of a change-up in how they're handling slow over-rates. During the captains' meeting at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, they tweaked the rules.
As per the new rule, instead of captains facing match bans for over-rate offenses, they'll now be getting demerit points and fines.
Talking about the match against GT, which was played on a black-soil pitch in Ahmedabad, GT managed to put up a total of 196 runs riding on Sai Sudharsan's well crafted 63. When it was Mumbai's turn to bat, they really struggled to keep up, only managing 160 runs with six wickets down despite Suryakumar Yadav's blistering 28-ball 48. It was Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj who remained the pick of the bowlers for GT as they both chipped in with two wickets each with former being adjudged the Player of the Match.
On the flip side, things aren't looking too bright for the Mumbai Indians right now. They've now suffered two losses back-to-back and are still searching for their first points in the IPL 2025 season.
It's worth noting that all of this is happening after the IPL's governing council introduced a brand-new demerit points system specifically for slow over-rate offenses in the 2025 season. Seems like they're really trying to crack down on it this year!
