Watch: Hardik Pandya engages in fight with Mahela Jayawardene just before SRH vs MI clash

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya was engaged in a heated conversation with the head coach, Mahela Jayawardene, on Wednesday, April 23.

The incident took place ahead of the commencement of the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians IPL 2025 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Also Read: 'Mohammed Shami's fitness has never been at its prime': Cheteshwar Pujara's shocking take on pacer

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Hardik Pandya engages in a heated chat with Mahela Jayawardene

Mahela Jayawardene was reappointed as Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach for IPL 2025. He replaced Mark Boucher, who coached the team in 2023 and 2024.

Mumbai Indians (MI) have performed significantly better under the new head coach. They started the tournament poorly as they won just one out of five matches.

However, in a classic Mumbai Indians fashion, they bounced back strong and registered a hat-trick of victories to climb to the sixth position in the Indian Premier League 2025 points table.

Meanwhile, the MI skipper lost his cool on the head coach, Mahela Jayawardene, ahead of the commencement of play in Hyderabad. Hardik was seen having a conversation with some MI team members, including Karn Sharma and Mahela Jayawardene, before the match.

Pandya had an animated chat with an MI team member standing beside Jayawardene before shifting his focus towards the head coach and slamming him. The MI skipper furiously said something to Jayawardene and was also seen making aggressive hand gestures.

After the chat, Pandya walked away and started doing warm-up, but soon Jayawardene came towards him to have a chat, and the MI skipper didn't look impressed.

Watch: Hardik Pandya Involved in Heated Exchange With Mahela Jayawardene Ahead of SRH vs MI Clash

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— crictalk (@crictalk7) April 23, 2025

I would like to pass on the message and condolences - Hardik Pandya

Speaking at the toss, Hardik Pandya passed on his condolences to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack. Hardik Pandya elaborated:

"We are going to bowl first. I would like to pass on the message and condolences to the families who lost their loved ones in the terrorist attack. Our team strongly condemns these acts.

"We are playing the same team. Just one change, Vignesh comes in place of Ashwani. We have always believed in executing our plans and take the game as simple as possible. Some batters have brought in new shots but at the same time old school cricket rules."

Meanwhile, SRH skipper Pat Cummins labelled the incident as heartbreaking and said:

"Yeah, it's been heartbreaking to see. From all of us at Sunrisers and also from all the Aussies who are loved here in India, our hearts go to all the victims and the families of all those that have been affected."

He also confirmed the return of Jaydev Unadkat to the playing XI, with Mohammed Shami moving down to the impact players list. Pat Cummins said:

"Just one change. Jaydev Unadkat comes in, and Shami goes out, who is a part of the impact list. We need to bring someone in for the toss to win it. There is a call for optimism. We have played good on this surface. You look at the highlights and it's good to play here at Uppal. Get excited about the surface that we know very well. A couple of losses. You want to tweak a few things."