IPL 2026: Rohit, Ryan fifties after Thakur three-fer help Mumbai win season-opener after 13 years
Mumbai, March 29 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton blazed to half-centuries after Shardul Thakur claimed 3-39 in his first match for the franchise as Mumbai Indians defeated Kolkata Knight Riders to win their season-opener after 13 years in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
After pacer Shardul Thakur claimed a wicket each in his first three overs to apply the brakes on rampaging KKR, who went on to post 220/4 with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (67) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (51) scoring half-centuries, Rohit Sharma struck a majestic 78 off 38 balls, and Rickelton blasted 81 off 43 balls as the Mumbai Indians reached won by six wickets in Match 2 of IPL 2026.
Chasing 221, the Mumbai Indians rode on a brilliant opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton to cruise to 224/4 in 19.1 overs to secure their first victory in a season-opener since 2012, at the Wankhede Stadium.
It was vintage Rohit Sharma as the former captain turned back the clock with a sensational innings, just when everyone was thinking till when he would continue to play in T20 after quitting it at the international stage.
Rohit Sharma hammered a 23-ball fifty, his fastest in IPL, hitting three fours and five sixes as he gave the team a brilliant start. He also became the fourth batter to score a half-century of 50-plus scores in IPL.
This was Rohit’s 50th half-century in 268 IPL matches, joining the club led by Virat Kohli (73, 261 matches), David Warner (66 in 184) and Shikhar Dhawan (53 in 221).
Rickelton raced to his fifty off 24 balls, hitting two fours and six maximums as he matched Rohit shot for shot.
Rohit, who hammered six fours and as many sixes in a majestic knock that took the stuffing out of the KKR bowling, got out while trying to slog Vaibhav Arora in the 12th over, but managed to top-edge it, and Anukul Roy hung on to a superb catch, running back from mid-on and had to put in a full-length dive to hold on to that.
The 38-year-old and Rickelton smashed 148 runs for their opening wicket partnership off 72 balls, giving Mumbai a fabulous start.
Though India’s T20 World Cup-winning Suryakumar Yadav did not contribute much, coming in as an Impact Substitute for his teammate Jasprit Bumrah. Surya struck three fours in his eight-ball 16.
Rickelton continued to torment KKR as he hit two fours and two more sixes before getting out for 81 off 43 balls, before he was run out to a direct hit by Anukul Roy, blocked by Muzarabani as he tried to get to the non-striker end after Tilak Varma refused a call for second. Mumbai were 184/3 in the 16th over and firmly on the road to victory.
Though Tilak Varma was out for 20 trying to seal victory with a big one, skipper Hardik Pandya (18 not out) helped them cross the line with a four in the final over.
Earlier, after a quiet first two overs, the KKR opening pair of Rahane, on his home ground, and Finn Allen exploded into action as they hammered 54 runs in 18 balls as the team raced to their first fifty against the Mumbai Indians, reaching the mark in 23 balls.
The carnage started when Hardik Pandya introduced Afghan mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar, and the bowler was smashed for 17 runs in his first over, with Allen walloping him for two sixes and a four.
Things got worse in the next over as Rahane hammered back-to-back sixes off Pandya in the first two balls of the fourth over, while Allen struck the Mumbai Indian captain boundaries off successive balls to end it as KKR blasted 26 runs from the over, racing to fifty in just 23 balls.
Shardul Thakur, making his debut for MI in his home town, made the breakthrough in the sixth over, getting Allen (37, 17b, 6×4, 2×6) caught at long-on with a slower delivery as KKR ended the Power-play at 78/1. Allen and Rahane raised 69 runs for the opening wicket, laying the foundation for a big total.
Cameron Green’s first innings as the costliest overseas player ever in IPL history lasted only 10 balls and fetched 18 runs as Thakur took the pace off a delivery that bounced a bit, and Green’s slap-shot went down the throat of Sherfane Rutherford at deep cover. Rahane and Green added 40 runs for the second wicket.
Rahane continued the good work from the other end as he cruised to his fifty in 27 balls, hitting three boundaries and four maximums. The fall of two wickets slowed down Rahane as he tried to build another partnership with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, but that did not materialise as the skipper was next to fall.
Thakur picked up his third wicket of the night as Rahane went inside-out on a cross-seam full delivery outside off and toe-ended it to Pandya at cover, back-tracking to take a simple catch.
KKR lost momentum after that, but Raghuvanshi pulled them back again by hitting Ghazanfar for a four, dropped by Rohit Sharma near the long-on boundary rope, and six straight down in the next ball to add more insult to injury. He struck Thakur for a six in the 17th over before Rinku Singh struck a four three balls later as they raised 50 runs for the fourth wicket partnership.
Raghuvanshi reached his fifty off 28 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes before slicing Pandya in the air to Tilak Varma as KKR crossed the 200-run mark.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 220/4 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 67, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 51, Finn Allen 37, Rinku Singh 33 not out; Shardul Thakur 3-39) lost to Mumbai Indians 224/4 in 19.1 overs (Ryan Rickelton 81, Rohit Sharma 78; Kartik Tyagi 1-43) by six wickets.
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