BCCI fines Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya for IPL code of conduct breaches as GT beat MI in a thriller

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has come down heavily on Hardik Pandya and Ashish Nehra for their respective offences under the Indian Premier League (IPL) Code of Conduct. The action from BCCI comes after Nehra’s Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) by three wickets in a rain-curtailed game at the Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.

Captain Hardik Pandya has been fined Rs 24 lakh as MI were found guilty of maintaining a slow over rate. They were also forced to have only four fielders outside the inner ring during the final over.

Hardik and MI playing XI fined

As it was MI’s second minimum over-rate offence of IPL 2025, Pandya has been fined Rs 24 lakh while the rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player and the concussion substitute, have individually been fined either Rs 6 lakh or 25 per cent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.

Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra has been fined 25 per cent of his match fees and has also accumulated one demerit point for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. He admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.20 - which pertains to the conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game - and accepted the Match Referee’s sanction.

More from First Cricket

Operation Sindoor: Indian cricketers Sehwag, Gambhir and others hail Army after action against Pakistan — 'Jai Hind' Hardik Pandya takes blame for Mumbai Indians' defeat but avoids final over talk: 'That, in my eyes, is indeed a crime'

For Level 1 breaches of the Code of Conduct, the Match Referee’s decision is final and binding.

Nehra fined for argument with umpires

The BCCI media release did not state the offence Nehra committed, but it’s mostly related to his argument with on-field umpires during the closing stages of the game when the match had been halted by rain. He was seen having an argument with the on-field umpires to restart the game as soon as possible, as GT were close to the target.

The argument took place during the second and final rain break as restart time kept shifting from 12:09 am to 12:25 am to 12:30 am (Wednesday).

Eventually, the match started at 12:30 am and the target was reduced from 156 to 147 under the DLS Method and the match was turned into a 19-over game. GT resumed batting on 132/6 from 18 overs and managed to cross the finishing line in the 19th over as Deepak Chahar of MI failed to defend 15 runs.