Mumbai Indians (MI) captain hardik pandya He was fined 10 per cent of his match fee and received one demerit point after breaching Level 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) code of conduct. The incident occurred during MI's defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 65 at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday, May 20.
During the second innings of the game, Hardik came to bowl the 10th over. Manish Pandey hit him for a four on the fourth ball. While going back to his run-up, the MI all-rounder deliberately knocked down the bails with force, which goes against Article 2.2 of the IPL Code of Conduct, which deals with “misuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a match”.
According to the official IPL press release, Hardik admitted wrongdoing and accepted the fine imposed by match referee Rajeev Seth.
KKR registered a four-wicket win over the five-time champions to keep their playoff chances alive. Ajinkya Rahane's team achieved the target of 148 runs with seven balls remaining, thanks to 45 and 40 runs from Pandey and Rovman Powell respectively.
Meanwhile, Hardik struggled with the bat and scored 26 runs at a strike rate of 96.30, while going wicketless with the ball.
Hardik has not performed well in this season of IPL. The 32-year-old player has scored 172 runs in nine matches at a strike rate of 128.35 and an average of 21.50. He has also taken only four wickets in the tournament.
MI His performance in the IPL has also been very poor and he is at ninth position in the points table after 13 matches. They have managed only four wins in the entire season, raising question marks not only over Hardik's captaincy but also his place in the playing XI.
The Mumbai-based franchise will play its final game of the 2026 season against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, May 24. It has now been six years since MI last won the IPL title, which was in 2020.
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