Hardik Pandya will miss Mumbai’s season opener in 2025 against Chennai Super Kings as he will be serving a ban due to slow over-rate offense
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya is set to become the last captain in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be punished by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with a ban as the Indian board revised the playing conditions for the upcoming 2025 season of the IPL. In a meeting held at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai, amid the presence of all the IPL captains and managers, the board decided to do away with captains playing the price for over-rate offences.
Hardik Pandya will miss Mumbai Indians’ first game in IPL 2025(AFP)
According to a report in Cricbuzz, in the meeting on Thursday, BCCI decided that captains will no longer face match bans. Instead, the board imposed the ICC-introduced rule of penalising skippers with demerit points based on the severity of the offence. These points will carry over for three years. Ban will only be handed in extreme cases.
In the previous IPL season, Hardik and Rishabh Pant, captaining Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals respectively, were handed a one-match ban for the team’s third over-rate offence. In fact, the all-rounder will miss Mumbai’s season opener in 2025 against Chennai Super Kings as he will be serving that ban.
How will demerit points be decided?
“A Level 1 offence will lead to deduction of 25 to 75 percent match fees with demerit points which will be calculated for next three years. Level 2 offence if serious will result in four demerit points.
“For every four demerit points accumulated, the match referee can impose a penalty, either in the form of a 100 percent fine or additional demerit points. These demerit points could convert into a match ban in the future but for slow overrate there won’t be a match ban,” said a BCCI source told PTI.
Additionally, the report in Cricbuzz added that the much-debated Impact Player rule will be reviewed by the governing council in 2027. “The IPL will continue to implement the Impact Player rule, allowing teams to substitute one player during a match, at least until 2027,” a source has informed the website.
