In a match of duelling half centuries, Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma upstaged Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi to help the Mumbai Indians beat the Kolkata Knight Riders in both teams opening match of the 2026 Tata IPL at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday night.
Rahane, 67 off 40 balls (3x4; 5x6) and Raghuvanshi, 51 off 29 (6x4; 2x6), led the charge for the Knight Riders as they powered their way to a solid looking 220/4 batting first.
But openers Rickelton, 81 off 43 (8x4; 4x6), and Sharma, 78 off 38 (6x4; 6x6), were even better as they hammered a 148-run opening partnership off 71 balls, to set their side up for a comfortable six wicket win with five balls to spare.
The Mumbai chase got off to a brutal start as Rickelton and Sharma tore into the Knight Riders bowlers, smashing their way to 80 off the six over powerplay.
They continued their onslaught going into the halfway stage, as Rickelton brought up Mumbai’s 100 with a slog swept six off Sunil Narine at the start of the ninth over, before they reached the 10-over mark on 122/0.
The Knight Riders finally made the breakthrough in the 12th over, when Sharma top edged a ball from Vaibhav Arora over mid-on, where Anukul Roy had to sprint back and dive full length to take an absolute stunner to send the opener on his way.
Suryakumar Yadav, 16 off eight (3x4), and Rickelton added 31 to the total before a quick double strike set them back.
First Yadav hit Kartik Tyagi straight to Rinku Singh at deep midwicket in the 15th over, followed in the next by Rickelton after he was bizarrely run out by a direct hit from Roy, after setting off for a second, but was sent back, as they slipped to 184/3 in the 16th over.
Tilak Varma, 20 off 14 (4x4), and Hardik Pandya, 18no off 11 (3x4), then made sure there would be no chance of a comeback with a 31-run stand off 20 balls to get them close, before Varma was the last to fall in the penultimate over, caught at long on by Manish Pandey off Narine.
At the start of play Mumbai won the toss and chose to bat, but it was the Knight Riders that got off to a great start as they smashed 78/1 in the powerplay.
Opener Finn Allen looked in great nick as he six fours and two sixes in his 17-ball 37, and shared in a 69-run opening stand with Rahane off just 32 balls.
But Shardul Thakur, who was the pick of the Mumbai bowlers with 3/39 in his four overs, made the breakthrough in the sixth over when Allen wasn’t able to get enough power on a slower ball and found Varma in the deep at wide long on.
Cameron Green was next in and hit a four and a six in a 10-ball 18-run cameo, before another Thakur slower ball made the breakthrough, with the Australian caught by Sherfane Rutherford at deep cover, with the score 109/2 in the ninth over.
Rahane and Raghuvanshi added 36 to the score, before the opener finally fell, Thakur making it three wickets in three overs for himself, as he had him caught by Pandya at cover as they slipped to 145/3 in the 14th over.
Raghuvanshi found a willing partner in Singh, 33no off 21 (4x4), as they combined for a 60-run fourth wicket partnership off 30 balls to get them over 200, before Raghuvanshi fell in the penultimate over, caught at deep cover by Varma off Pandya.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Blessing Muzarabani