where the spotlight has fallen on certain captaincy calls. Each edition of the cash-rich tournament has had a few cases of captaincy mistakes, often changing the course of a match, and the 18th season of the marquee event has been no different. In this list, CricTracker discusses five such events of the season.

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A second delay due to rain in MI’s fixture against GT meant that the game was reduced to a 19-over contest. 15 runs were required off six deliveries. Rahul Tewatia and Gerald Coetzee were at the crease. Trent Boult (2/22 in four overs), Jasprit Bumrah (2/19 in four overs), and Ashwani Kumar (2/28 in four overs) had already exhaused their quotas. Skipper, Hardik Pandya, had bowled only one over. He ended up conceding 18. There was an option of bowling Will Jacks or Karn Sharma, both of who had bowled one and two overs, respectively.

In fact, Karn had bowled quite well to concede only 13 runs. However, Hardik and the management probably felt relying on a spinner would be a risky proposition due to the lingering moisture. Deepak Chahar was handed the ball despite being notorious for being expensive at the death. Hardik decided on not bowling himself. Prior to this, he had only bowled twice in the death in 2025; conceding seven and 21 runs, respectively. A four and a six from Tewatia and Coetzee, respectively, proved enough to steer GT over the line at the end.