Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya has been handed a one-match ban along with INR 3 million fine for keeping a slow over rate during the match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
Pandya will miss the first match of the next IPL season regardless of the team he plays in. This was the third time MI failed to maintain a minimum over rate and as a result, he was fined INR 3 million while the rest of the players including the Impact Player, were individually fined either INR 12 lakhs or 50% of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.
Things didn’t go too smoothly for Pandya this season as he had to face difficulties from the start of the season. He replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of MI and the decision wasn’t welcomed by the fans as the 30-year-old had to encounter a hostile environment in several stadiums.
The five-time IPL winners finished at the bottom of the IPL points table with just four wins from 14 matches. Pandya was booed by the Wankhede crowd throughout the season and his individual performance was a matter of concern as well.
Pandya only managed to score 216 runs at an average of 18 and 143.04 strike rate this season and with the ball, he bagged 11 wickets. Not just that, his decisions during the matches, sometimes not coming to bat earlier and at times bowling with the new ball over Jasprit Bumrah, were not welcomed by the fans as well as the experts.
Remember, Pandya is part of India’s squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 and the all-rounder is likely to be included in the playing XI as the BCCI has plans of making him the captain of the shorter format in the future.
After an underwhelming IPL run, it will be interesting to see how Pandya manages to perform in the World Cup as he would be under strict scrutiny throughout the tournament.
- Hardik Pandya