Nehra fined, handed demerit point; Hardik fined for slow over-rate again

Hardik Pandya and his team-mates (first XI plus the impact sub Karn Sharma) have all been hit with fines for Mumbai Indians' (MI) slow over-rate in their loss against Gujarat Titans (GT) at home on Tuesday night. For the winners, head coach Ashish Nehra has been penalised for "conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game".

In the stop-start second half of the IPL 2025 game between MI and GT, when rain took the players off and brought them back in a few times, MI had to bring an additional fielder into the 30-yard circle for the final over - the 19th - of the chase as is the in-game penalty norm in the IPL. GT needed 15 runs to get off that Deepak Chahar over and got over the line off the last ball.

Hardik was fined INR 24 lakh, since this was the second time MI had committed the offence under his captaincy this season. His team-mates were each fined either INR 6 lakh or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.

Nehra, meanwhile, was at his animated best in the dying minutes of the game, when it looked like he wanted the umpires to restart the game after the latest rain interruption. He was fined 25% of his match fee and also handed one demerit point for breaching Article 2.20 of the IPL code of conduct, though the IPL didn't state what exactly his offence was.

This is the second time a coach has been penalised with a demerit point for a breach of the IPL's code. Munaf Patel, the Delhi Capitals (DC) bowling coach, was similarly penalised after their Super Over win against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Delhi on April 16.

Hardik has a lot of compatriots for company: Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, Sanju Samson, Rajat Patidar and Riyan Parag.