Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has confirmed that Suryakumar Yadav will lead the team in his absence in their opening game of the season against Chennai Super Kings. Hardik will serve the one-match ban imposed on him in the last season due to poor over-rate.
Suryakumar Yadav is set to lead Mumbai Indians in their opening game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday (March 23) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Hardik Pandya will serve the one-match ban imposed on him in the final match of the last edition of the IPL for poor over-rate and in his absence, Surya has been appointed MI’s captain.
Hardik confirmed the development in the pre-season press conference on Wednesday (March 19) stating that Surya is the ideal candidate to lead the team in his absence. “Suryakumar Yadav is India’s T20I captain. So, it is ideal for him to lead the MI team in my absence in the first game against CSK,” Hardik said.
MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated that they have been officially communicated about the one-match ban on Hardik from IPL 2024. MI faced Lucknow Super Giants in their final league stage encounter last season and lost the match by 18 runs. Regarding poor over-rate in that game, it was their third offence in the season and according to the rules, the captain is banned for one game.
As MI didn’t qualify for the playoffs, Hardik Pandya has been ruled out of their first game of IPL 2025. As for Suryakumar Yadav, he has led Mumbai Indians once before during the 2023 edition of IPL and ended up winning that clash.
In the pre-season press conference, Hardik sounded way more confident than he was in the last edition after he controversially replaced Rohit as the skipper. After dodging tricky questions then, this season he feels lucky to have three captains in the squad. “I am lucky that I have three captains playing with me — Rohit, Surya & Bumrah. They always place an arm around my shoulder & are there when I need any help,” Hardik said.
