(Cricket News) Mumbai Indian’s skipper Hardik Pandya has been fined after his side maintained a slow over-rate in their last league game against the Lucknow Super Giants on the 17th of May at the Wankhede stadium.

Since it was the third slow over-rate offence, skipper Hardik has been handed a one-match ban. The ban means he will not be featuring in the first game for his side in next years Indian Premier league, as the ban would be carried to IPL 2025 since Mumbai Indians are already eliminated. Earlier Rishabh Pant suffered a similar suspension because of the slow over-rate.

The one-match ban will stay irrespective of where Hardik plies his trade in IPL 2025 following the mega auction. The rest of the Mumbai Indians side has fined INR 12 lakhs or 50% of the match fee, whichever is lesser.

Hardik had a horror of season this time around, both as a skipper and as a player. Mumbai lost 10 out of their 14 games, making it one of their worst IPL season ever. The 5-times champions finished last on the table. The all-rounder on the other hand managed to score and an average of just 18 and gave runs over an economy of 10.

Hardik’s appointment as a skipper was in itself a saga of controversy. Hardik was not very well accepted as the skipper of Mumbai by the fans. He had to deal with a lot criticism and also was booed in most of the places wherever he played.

With a mega auction coming up next year, it would be interesting to see whether Mumbai Indians will persist with the all-rounder or will they back to Rohit look for someone else to assign the role to take forward the franchise’s legacy.

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