Will Hardik Pandya Return For MI Vs GT IPL 2025 Match?

Anurag Dasgupta

Will Hardik Pandya play today? [Source: @Saabir_Saabu01/X.com]Will Hardik Pandya play today? [Source: @Saabir_Saabu01/X.com]

Mumbai Indians suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their opening contest, last Sunday. The Mumbai squad was without their key talismans in Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah as the team looked weak on paper and started the tournament with a loss.

The duo of Bumrah and Hardik make Mumbai Indians a formidable side and their wealth of experience was missed in the last encounter. While Bumrah's availability for the IPL 2025 is relatively unknown, Hardik missed the last matdh due to the ban he received for slow-over rate last season.

However, the big question arises, will the MI skipper be available for the next clash against the Gujarat Titans?.

Will Hardik Pandya return Vs GT?

As per the IPL guidelines, a captain if found guilty of slow over rate in three matches in a season will serve a one-game ban. Hardik's last slow over rate offence came in MI's final league stage game last season, hence, he served the ban in the opening match this season.

Hence, his ban has been lifted and captain Hardik Pandya is ready to play against the Gujarat Titans in this crucial IPL 2025 encounter.

Who will Hardik replace if he comes back

In the absence of Hardik against CSK, MI played both Robin Minz and Naman Dhir and both the batters failed to deliver. For this upcoming match against GT, Robin Minz could sit out as MI have shown trust in Naman Dhir since last season and the batter could retain his place with Hardik replacing Robin Minz.