The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 double-header on Sunday saw the start of an interesting procedure, as umpires began checking the bat size of players. In the contest between Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mumbai Indians (MI), the on-field umpire used a device to measure the width of MI captain Hardik Pandya‘s bat. Fortunately for Pandya, his bat was within the permitted dimensions of 4.25 inches. Earlier in the day, during the clash between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), the bats of Phil Salt and Shimron Hetmyer had been changed.
The umpire used a gauge and ran it through the entire length of Pandya’s bat in order to make sure it did not exceed the dimensions at any point.
As per the rules of the IPL, no bat should cross 4.25 inches or 10.8 centimetres in width.
“The blade of the bat shall not exceed the following dimensions: Width: 4.25in / 10.8 cm, Depth: 2.64in / 6.7 cm, Edges: 1.56in / 4.0cm. Furthermore, it should also be able to pass through a bat gauge,” as per the playing conditions of IPL 2025.
Umpire checked Hardik Pandya bat before he came to bat today
Unreal Aura pic.twitter.com/tV1Pm0yNGm—(@Sneha4kohli) April 13, 2025
With run-scoring at an all-time high and the total of 200 being crossed on a daily basis by all teams, the umpires’ new technique is to make sure that batters are not receiving any undue and illegal advantage.
Earlier, Phil Salt and Shimron Hetmyer’s bats were checked in the day game. Salt smashed 65 runs off just 33 balls, as RCB beat RR convincingly.
While Hetmyer didn’t do so well, the Caribbean middle-order power-hitter has also been in good form off late.
Pandya, on the other hand, has smashed some cameos in recent games. On Sunday, Pandya failed to contribute much, getting out on just 2. However, he did lead Mumbai Indians to only their second victory of the season.
Instead, the limelight of power-hitting was stolen by Karun Nair. The 33-year-old came on as an impact player for Delhi Capitals and smashed 89 runs off just 40 balls, taking every Mumbai Indians bowler to the cleaners, including Jasprit Bumrah.
Karun, however, departed in the 12th over, leading to the start of the DC downfall. MI’s impact player, leg-spinner Karn Sharma, took three wickets in the middle overs to turn the game in their favour.
In the end, DC fell short by a mere 12 runs, as Mumbai Indians were able to skittle them out for 193.
