The excitement surrounding the competition, which begins on March 22 in Kolkata, will be increased by the fact that the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians will play each other as early as the second day of the IPL 2025 season. The Indian Premier League's El Clásico is scheduled for Saturday at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium. The high-profile match was scheduled early in the season. In contrast to last year, the Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians will play each other twice in the league stage. The second match will occur on April 20 at Mumbai's legendary Wankhede Stadium.
Due to their lone meeting at Wankhede, where Chennai won by 20 runs, spectators could not witness a doubleheader between the two most successful teams in the 2024 Indian Premier League. Since the organizers revealed the IPL 2025 schedule on Sunday, February 16, the excitement surrounding these highly anticipated matches has only increased.
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Why no Hardik Pandya in first CSK vs MI clash?
Notably, Hardik Pandya, the captain of the Mumbai Indians, will not be playing in the highly anticipated encounter in Chennai. After the Mumbai Indians' last league game in the 2024 Indian Premier League, Hardik received a one-match ban. The punishment extends to the IPL 2025 season because MI was not eligible for the playoffs. In the IPL 2024, Hardik was punished for three over-rate offences. According to league rules, the captain of a team will be suspended for one game if they are unable to maintain the necessary over-rate three times within a season.
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Who will lead MI in place of Hardik?
Given that the Mumbai Indians have several players with captaincy experience, it is unclear who would captain them in Chennai. An obvious choice is Rohit Sharma, one of the most successful captains in IPL history. MI's team also includes India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and Test captain Jasprit Bumrah. Last season, Hardik Pandya was under a lot of strain because MI finished last in the table with only four victories in 14 games. After taking Rohit Sharma's place as MI's captain, he was criticized and even jeered by the team's supporters.
Hardik will be looking for MI to turn things around, and their confidence will be greatly impacted by their first game against the Super Kings. Since the Mumbai Indians do not play more than two home games in a row during the season, they will have a challenging schedule in the 2025 Indian Premier League. With four of their first six games at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, the Chennai Super Kings will have a significant home edge. However, because of the extreme heat in the city during that month, CSK has only one home game planned for May.