IPL 2025: Shubman Gill puts full stop to reported rift with Hardik Pandya, posts 'nothing but love'

India’s new Test team captain Shubman Gill has shrugged off reports of any rift with Hardik Pandya as Mumbai Indians downed Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) Playoffs on Friday (May 30). After Mumbai’s 20-run last-over win there were reports that Gill refused to shake hands with Panyda. However, those rumours have been put to the sword as Gill posted a story on his Instagram handle, showing love and respect for Mumbai Indians captain Pandya.

Gill rubbishes rift rumours

“Nothing but love. Don’t believe everything you see on the internet” Gill wrote on his Instagram story tagging Pandya.

The two were in the same Gujarat Titans squad that won the IPL in 2022 with Pandya leading the side. However, in a major move in December 2023, Pandya returned to Mumbai prompting GT to appoint Gill as captain. Interestingly, soon after his return Pandya was named as the captain of the Mumbai Indians side, thereby demoting Rohit Sharma.

After the respective changes on both sides, Pandya and Gill have enjoyed their stints as IPL captains. On Friday they both crossed paths with a place in Qualifier 2 up for grabs.

Mumbai reach Q2

Having opted to bat first, Mumbai scored 228/5 in their 20 overs with their batters in top form. Jonny Bairstow was dismissed for a well-made 47 off 22 before he was dismissed by Sai Kishore. He and Rohit Sharma put together an opening stand of 84 runs as Mumbai made a fantastic start. Later Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 20) joined Rohit as they continued the batting onslaught. The pair stitched a stand of 59 runs for the second wicket before Suryakumar fell to Sai Kishore on a sweep shot with him scoring 33 off 20.

Tilak Varma also played a crucial knock with a score of 25 off 11. However, it was Rohit who made the headlines having scored 81 off 50 which included 4 sixes and 9 fours.

In response, GT scored 208/6 in their 20 overs as they lost by 20 runs in a last-over thriller at the New Chandigarh Stadium in Mullanpur. As a result, Mumbai will now face Punjab Kings in Q2 on Sunday (June 1) for a place in the IPL 2025 final.