Hardik Pandya charges at Sai Kishore, uses expletive after ugly staredown in heated exchange during GT vs MI IPL clash

The emotions got the better of Hardik Pandya and R Sai Kishore during the high-octane clash between the Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.

Hardik was back against the franchise, whom he led to the IPL title in 2022, and the tempers flared when he came up against Sai Kishore during the formidable 197-run chase. The two players, who are good friends off the field, engaged in a heated moment which grabbed the attention of many. Pandya failed to inspire his team to their first win of the season as Mumbai lost the match by 36 runs, but he made sure to patch up with with his former teammate Sai Kishore after the game.

It was the fifteenth over of the Mumbai Indians’ innings when Sai Kishore and Hardik were engaged in a heated moment. After bowling a dot ball, the GT spinner gave a death stare to Pandya, which agitated the Mumbai Indians skipper. He didn’t hold back and used cuss words in response. Pandya also walked towards Sai Kishore. Both players had a brief staredown in the middle of the pitch, and the umpires had to rush in to block them.

However, during the post-match customary handshake, the two players hugged it out and had a laugh to put an end to what happened in the heat of the moment.

Sai Kishore finished his spell with the figures of 1/37 in four overs as he claimed the crucial scalp of Tilak Varma.

Hardik fails with bat as MI winless in first two matches

On the other hand, Hardik, who had a brilliant night with the bowl, failed to replicate the same with the bat against his former franchise. The star allrounder picked two wickets for 29 and later scored 11 runs off 17 balls as his team suffered its second loss in a row this season. Rabada dismissed him in the 17th over which almost sealed the fate of the game.

Prasidh Krishna (2/18) and Mohammed Siraj (2/34) were the pick of the bowlers for Gujarat as they managed to restrict Mumbai to 160/6 in 20 overs after posting 196/8 batting first. Siraj struck twice inside the batting powerplay when he bowled openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton but it was Krishna who put the stamp of authority when he bagged the big wickets of Suryakumar Yadav (48) and Tilak Varma (39) in the middle overs.