Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
With the 2025 edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) set to get underway on Saturday, March 22, five-time champions Mumbai Indians will take on arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their inaugural match of the season at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, March 23. But ahead of the season, the Hardik Pandya-led side has received a massive setback as they will miss the services of star pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
However, reports were rife of Bumrah missing the initial stages of the tournament, MI head coach, Mahela Jayawardene on Wednesday, March 19 confirmed it. Speaking at the pre-season press conference, the former Sri Lanka cricketer said, “it is a challenge” to not have Bumrah for the initial stages while hoping that he will join the side soon.
Suryakumar Yadav to lead MI in first match against CSK in Hardik Pandya’s absence
"Jasprit is at the moment with NCA. He has just started his progress," Jayawardene said. "We have to wait and see what their feedback is on him. At the moment, everything is going well. But obviously, it is on a day-to-day basis. He is in good spirits. Not having him is a challenge. He is one of the best bowlers in the world and he has been a fantastic pro for us for many years,” he continued.
Apart from this, the MI skipper Hardik Pandya, who is set to miss the opening match of the IPL due to a ban he received in the last edition, also confirmed that Suryakumar Yadav will lead the side in match against CSK on March 23. “Yeah, Surya, obliviously leads India as well. When I am not there, he is the ideal choice in this format (to lead). He is an exciting option as well,” Hardik said.
It is to be noted that Hardik Pandya was handed one-match ban after his team committed third slow over-rate offence in their final fixture of the season under IPL’s Code of Conduct. “As it was his team’s third offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Pandya was fined INR 30 lakhs and banned from playing the team’s next match. The rest of the members of the Playing XI, including the Impact Player, were each individually fined either INR 12 lakhs or 50 percent of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser.”
Mumbai Indians’ squad for IPL 2025
Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Mitchell Santner, Reece Topley, Raj Angad Bawa, Shrijith Krishnan, Ashwani Kumar, Venkata Satyanarayana Penmetsa, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur
