Hardik and Gill came up against each other in IPL 2025 Eliminator on Friday.
Social media was abuzz on Friday (May 30) with speculations of rivalry between Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill – the captain of Mumbai Indians (MI) and Gujarat Titans (GT), respectively.
Hardik and Gill came up against each other in IPL 2025 Eliminator at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur on Friday (May 30).
At the toss, Hardik offered a hand-shake to Gill, but the latter perhaps failed to notice it, giving rise to an awkward situation.
Later, when Shubman was dismissed in the very first over of the chase, the MI skipper was seen celebrating in an animated manner and even turned his face a bit when getting past his GT counterpart.
"Is it the start of a mini rivalry? Before the toss, the two could be seen together clicking photos. Then at the toss, Hardik was ready for a hand shake but then Shubman Gill looked at the other side. Then after Gill's dismissal, Pandya passed him, " the commentator said on-air.
Coming to the match, Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Titans in a high-scoring affair by 20 runs to secure a spot in Qualifier 2.
Opting to bat first, the five-time champions posted an imposing 228/5 on the board. Rohit Sharma capitalised on early chances to play a pivotal knock of 81 from 50 balls, while his opening partner Jonny Bairstow (47 off 22) made an instant impact on debut for MI.
GT fought hard in the 229-run chase. Sai Sudharsan’s 49-ball 80 kept them in the contest, but a lack of support from other batters eventually came back to bite the 2022 champions. Among other batters, only Washington Sundar (48 off 24) returned with an impactful knock.
With this victory, the Hardik Pandya-led side set up a Qualifier 2 clash against Punjab Kings in Ahmedabad on June 1. The winner will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL 2025 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium on June 3.