With regular captain Hardik Pandya set to miss Mumbai Indians’ season opener in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 owing to a match ban, Suryakumar Yadav will lead the side in his stead in the match against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. It will be IPL 2025’s first double-header day, with Sunrisers Hyderabad set to host Rajasthan Royals in the afternoon game.
Ahead of the match, Suryakumar was asked how he would take care of ‘uncapped’ MS Dhoni, and the stand-in skipper came up with a sassy one-liner in the pre-match press conference in Chepauk on Saturday.
Suryakumar initially misunderstood the reporter’s question. “Control who? Umpires?” he asked. After the journalist reiterated his query, the India T20I skipper was left in splits, before saying: “Has anyone ever been able to control Dhoni in so many years?”
Suryakumar then talked about the excitement of playing in Chennai and watching Dhoni through the years as he enthralled not only fans, but cricketers like him.
” It’s always an excitement when you come to Chennai and watch him come out of the dressing room, it’s always a good thing. You learnt so many good things from him, and we still do whenever we get an opportunity we have a chat with him. I’m excited to see him again, but I will be leading against him so it will be a good challenge,” he added.
Notably, Dhoni will be playing under the “uncapped” category in IPL 2025 after the BCCI reinstated a rule that was scrapped in 2021. According to the rule, a player who has not played in an international game for more than five years will fall under the “uncapped” category. The former India captain last played an international game in the 2019 World Cup semifinal and announced his retirement a year later.
Why will Hardik Pandya miss CSK game?
The India all-rounder will not play in Mumbai’s game against Chennai on Sunday as he is serving his one-match ban, handed by the BCCI for the team’s third over-rate offence in the 2024 edition of IPL. However, he is set to become the last IPL captain to be banned for over-rate offences as the BCCI changed the rule earlier this week. Captains, from IPL 2025 onwards, will only be docked demerit points.
“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,” a BCCI source had told PTI.