New Delhi: Mumbai Indians will not be able to play their first match of the 2025 season of the Indian Premier League without the support of regular captain Hardik Pandya. It is not that he is unfit, but he has been punished due to a rule of the IPL. Meanwhile, the question was whether Rohit Sharma would return as captain for one match, now the answer has been found. Hardik Pandya himself has given the answer. He told in a program that Suryakumar Yadav will be the captain of the team in the team’s first match against Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025.
Suryakumar Yadav is the best option
He said in a statement- In my absence, Suryakumar Yadav is definitely the best option for captaincy. He is also the captain of the Indian T20 team. The 2024 season was full of ups and downs for Mumbai Indians after Hardik Pandya’s return to captaincy, but things have changed now. The Mumbai mainstays are set to return to their champion image after India’s T20 World Cup win in 2024.
Women’s team title
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Indians women’s team led by Harmanpreet Kaur has won the WPL 2025 title. The franchise hopes that the men’s team will also do wonders under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya. However, the lack of support of the captain in the first match is a big setback for them.
Because of this reason Hardik Pandya will not play the first match
Hardik Pandya was fined Rs 30 lakh after playing in Mumbai Indians’ final group stage match of IPL 2024 against Lucknow Super Giants. He was also suspended from the opening match of IPL 2025. In this way, Hardik Pandya will be out of the opening match due to the overtime ban. On the other hand, there are reports that Jasprit Bumrah will not be available for the first few weeks. Suryakumar Yadav will be the stand-in captain and he will have a strong target like Chennai Super Kings in front of him. Now it remains to be seen how Suryakumar Yadav overcomes these initial challenges and how he wins the title?