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Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has been fined ₹12 lakh as per the IPL Code of Conduct after maintaining a slow over-rate against Punjab Kings in the IPL 2024 match in Mullanpur on Thursday.
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BCCI stated, “Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians captain, has been fined after his team maintained a slow over rate during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match against Punjab Kings at the PCA New International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur on April 18,”
This was MI's first over-rate offense this IPL 2024 season under the IPL's code of conduct relating to minimum over rate, so Pandya was fined Rs 12 lakh. As per BCCI sources, a repeat of the offence could find Hardik and other Mumbai Indians players in a bigger trouble.
Talking about the match, MI almost lost the match against PBKS due to slow over rate. The five-time champions were forced to field only four fielders outside the inner ring instead of the usual five in the last two overs of the match as they fell short of the cut-off time. But Hardik kept his composure and bowled a good final over. The MI captain gave away only four runs in his first three balls and then got the crucial wicket of Harpreet Brar on his fourth ball. Brar made a good connection but was hitting it towards long side of the boundary line and was out to Mohammad Nabi at fine leg.
This was MI's third win in their last four encounters of IPL 2024 and are currently placed seventh in the league table. The team finally seem to be making a comeback and trying to make it to the playoffs of this season. Their next opponent are the table toppers, Rajasthan Royals, and MI would need to come off with something special in order to win against an in-form Rajasthan side.
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MI will playing two more away games after that, against Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants before returning to Wankhede to take on the Kolkata Knight Riders. Although, qualifying for the play-offs is definitely going to be a tough task for Pandya’s team but they have done it before and it won’t be surprise if they are able to pull it off once again.