NEW DELHI: It has been a season to forget for Mumbai Indians and skipper Hardik Pandya suffered another setback on Thursday after being fined for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during his side’s defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens.Pandya was penalised after visibly venting his frustration on the field during MI’s four-wicket loss, a result that further summed up the five-time champions’ miserable IPL 2026 campaign. According to an official IPL statement, Pandya breached Level 1 of the Code of Conduct relating to abuse of cricket equipment and ground fixtures.“Hardik Pandya was found to have breached Article 2.2 of the IPL’s Code of Conduct, which pertains to ‘abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a Match’,” the statement read.The incident occurred on the fourth ball of the 10th over of KKR’s chase when Pandya, while walking back to his run-up, forcefully knocked the bails off the stumps.The MI captain admitted the offence and accepted the sanction imposed by match referee Rajiv Seth. Along with the fine, Pandya also received one demerit point. Accumulating four to seven demerit points in the IPL can lead to a one-match suspension.
Another frustrating night for Mumbai Indians
The disciplinary issue capped another disappointing evening for Mumbai Indians, who were already eliminated from the playoffs race.Defending a modest total of 147/8 on a tricky Eden Gardens surface, MI failed to hold their nerve as KKR chased down the target with seven balls remaining to stay alive in the playoff race.Pandya later admitted Mumbai’s batting and fielding failures continued to haunt the team throughout the season.“Definitely as a batting group, we were 20 runs short,” Pandya said after the match. “I think throughout the season, we’ve been quite poor in fielding. We have dropped a lot of catches. If you want to win games, you need to grab all the chances, even half chances as well.”MI’s disappointing campaign has now seen them win only four matches this season, with one final league game remaining against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.
