Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya had an awkward moment at the toss on Friday.
Gill and Pandya 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, Pandya 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, Hardik was seen celebrating in an animated manner and even turned his face a bit when getting past him.
The turn of events set social media ablaze as rumours of 'rivalry' and 'ego clash' started doing rounds. It obviously caught Gill's attention and the GT skipper, who was recently appointed India’s Test captain, took to Instagram to clear the air.
Sharing a two-picture collage of him and Pandya on Insta story, Gill wrote, "Nothing but love (Don't believe everything you see on the internet)."
Minutes later, Hardik reacted to Shubman’s story by stating, “Always shubhu baby” with kiss and heart emojis.
Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya forged a successful partnership and even lifted the IPL 2022 title together in GT's debut season.
Pandya then left the franchise and returned to MI ahead of IPL 2024, which saw Gill taking over Gujarat’s captaincy.
Coming to the Eliminator clash, Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Titans in a high-scoring affair by 20 runs to secure a spot in Qualifier 2.
Opting to bat first, MI 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 the Mumbai-based franchise.
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.