Hardik Pandya continued to chip away at the wickets, taking his tally to 10 for the season in just his fourth appearance for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025. Pandya, who led the Gujarat Titans in a couple of seasons, continued his ascent on the wickets ladder as a captain.
Mumbai Indians’ winning luck may not be with them at the moment in the 2025 edition of the IPL as far as the results are concerned, however, skipper Hardik Pandya‘s performance with bat and ball has been outstanding. Pandya almost pulled off a heist in MI’s favour against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Monday evening at the Wankhede Stadium with a rampaging 42-run knock off just 15 balls after having taken a couple of crucial wickets with the ball in the first innings.
Hardik sent back Virat Kohli and his opposite number Rajat Patidar while stemming the run-flow as he took his tally to 10 wickets for the season in just four matches, equalling the table-topper Noor Ahmad. With those two wickets, Hardik now has 32 wickets as captain, which is the most for any Indian captain in the IPL as he jumped to the second spot on the overall list. Hardik is just behind Shane Warne on the ladder with the former Rajasthan Royals skipper talking 57 wickets in charge of the inaugural champions from 2008 to 2011.
Most wickets as captain in IPL
57 – Shane Warne (RR) – in 54 innings (2008-2011)
32 – Hardik Pandya (MI/GT) – in 37 innings (2022-2025)*
30 – Anil Kumble (RCB) – in 26 innings (2009-2010)
25 – R Ashwin (KXIP) – in 28 innings (2018-2019)
22 – Pat Cummins (SRH) – in 21 innings (2024-2025)
Hardik, who began his captaincy career in 2022 in the IPL with the Gujarat Titans, led the new franchise to a title in their very first attempt. The Titans qualified for the final in 2023 as well but Chennai Super Kings denied their title defence in a thrilling final. Out of 32, Hardik has taken 21 wickets for Mumbai Indians and 11 for the Titans.
There have been a few bright spots for Mumbai Indians so far in terms of individual performances, however, the collective effort with both bat and ball is lacking and the five-time champions need to put them together as the time is running away with four losses already in five games.
