The biggest rivalry in the Indian Premier League (IPL) will take place on March 23, when two of the most successful franchises — Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians — lock horns in match 3 of the 2025 season. The CSK vs MI IPL 2025 clash will be played at Chepauk in Chennai, and will possibly for the last time witnesses MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma in action against each other while sparking off a new rivalry between CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Hardik Pandya. CSK vs MI IPL 2025 Preview: Key Battles, H2H, Impact Players and More About Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians Indian Premier League Season 18 Match 3.

Pandya, who faced a lot of backlash in IPL 2024 for taking over the role of Mumbai Indians' captain from Rohit Sharma, has since enjoyed a purple patch, winning multiple trophies for India like the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, and ICC Champions Trophy 2025, that has seen his popularity amongst Indian and Mumbai fan grow exponentially, having performed in crunch situations in these tournaments. However, in the ongoing CSK vs MI IPL 2025 Pandya is not leading Mumbai Indians as seen at the toss when Suryakumar Yadav walked out. Fans wondering why Pandya is not captaining the franchise in the CSK vs MI IPL 2025 match can scroll below.  Rohit Sharma Spotted With 'SAR' Written on His Batting Gloves Ahead of CSK vs MI IPL 2025 Match, Fans Say It Stands for 'Samaira, Ahaan and Ritika' (Watch Video).

Why Hardik Pandya Is Not Captaining Mumbai Indians in CSK vs MI IPL 2025 Match?

Hardik Pandya is left out of Mumbai Indians playing XI as the all-rounder is facing a one-match ban, which has been carried over from IPL 2024. Mumbai Indians were found behind in over rate in their final IPL 2024 match, which saw match referees hand captain Pandya a one-match ban, which meant Suryakumar Yadav to lead the franchise in the CSK vs MI IPL 2025 match.

Interestingly, the IPL governing council has done away with this ruling of banning a captain for the team's slow over-rate and adopted a demerit point system for this edition and beyond.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 23, 2025 07:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).