Hardik Pandya made history on Friday, April 4, by becoming the first captain to take five wickets in an IPL match. The 31-year-old from Baroda, who’s leading the Mumbai Indians this season, bagged five wickets for 36 runs in four overs against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. His outstanding bowling helped MI limit LSG to 203 runs in their 20 overs.
He kicked off his wicket tally by getting Nicholas Pooran for just 12 runs during the ninth over of LSG’s innings. Pooran was caught by Deepak Chahar. In his second over, Hardik struck again, dismissing Rishabh Pant, who managed only 2 runs off 6 balls before being caught by substitute fielder Corbin Bosch. Later in the game, Hardik bowled the 18th over, where he took out Aiden Markram, the South African T20I captain, who scored 53 runs off 38 balls. Markram was caught by Raj Angad Bawa.
In the final over of LSG’s innings, Hardik got rid of David Miller for 27 runs from 14 balls—he was caught by Naman Dhir—and then wrapped up with a golden duck for Akash Deep, who was caught by Mitchell Santner.
Here’s a quick look at the top bowling records for captains in the IPL:
- 57 wickets – Shane Warne
- 30 wickets – Hardik Pandya
- 30 wickets – Anil Kumble
- 25 wickets – Ravichandran Ashwin
- 21 wickets – Pat Cummins
Before Hardik’s achievement, the best bowling figures by a captain in IPL history belonged to Anil Kumble, who took 4 for 16 while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Deccan Chargers back in May 2009.
Best bowling figures in IPL by captains:
- Hardik Pandya (MI) – 5/36 against LSG in Lucknow (April 4, 2025)
- Anil Kumble (RCB) – 4/16 against Deccan Chargers in Johannesburg (May 24, 2009)
- Anil Kumble (RCB) – 4/16 in 3.3 overs against Deccan Chargers in Navi Mumbai (April 24, 2010)
- Jean-Paul Duminy (DC) – 4/17 against SRH in Visakhapatnam (April 18, 2015)
Hardik is now only the second bowler in IPL history, following Akash Madhwal, to take a five-wicket haul against Lucknow Super Giants. Madhwal previously took five wickets for just five runs against LSG during the eliminator match of IPL 2025 in May 2023.