Well, that brings us to the end of our coverage from this space, folks! Mumbai Indians kick off IPL 2026 with a win — yes, you read that right — MI have finally won their season opener. Kolkata Knight Riders, on the other hand, will have a few things to reflect on. That said, this is just the beginning of a long tournament, with plenty of cricket still to come for both sides. On that note, we wrap up this live blog. Thank you for staying with us and following the action. Good night, take care, and see you soon!

Australia all-rounder Cameron Green, who KKR bought for Rs 25.20 crore at the IPL 2026 auction, didn’t bowl a single over in the game tonight. When asked about it, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said it was a question that should be asked to Cricket Australia, indicating that the all-rounder has not been cleared by the board to bowl yet.

Mumbai Indians failed to win a single opening game since IPL 2012, and have managed to do it after 14 long years. Sounds quite unrealistic, right? It is what it is! Mumbai Indians have finally broken that jinx, and the so-called “slow starters” will now aim to capitalise on this winning start.

Naman Dhir smashes the Anukul Roy delivery through long-off for a four. MUMBAI INDIANS HAVE WON THEIR IPL OPENER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 14 YEARS! The Hardik Pandya-led side beats Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets in its IPL 2026 campaign opener.

Tilak Varma is GONE! He has found the fielder at long-on. Sunil Narine claims the wicket. Tilak knelt down but ended up slicing the ball to the fielder. Mumbai Indians need six runs in eight balls. They are almost there.

Tilak Varma c (sub)Manish Pandey b Sunil Narine 20(14)

MI 215-4 (18.4)

A four from Tilak Varma through fine leg. Vaibhav Arora nailed his yorker but the ball took an inside edge of Tilak's bat and beat the short fine leg for a four. Mumbai Indians need nine runs in 12 balls. They are only a couple of hits away from winning this game.

MI 212-3 (18)

That is a good shot from Tilak Varma! Kartik Tyagi bowled a full toss and the MI southpaw was ready for it. He scooped it over the short fine leg for a four. Eight came off the over. MI need 20 runs in 18 balls.

MI 201-3 (17)

Ryan Rickelton has thrown his wicket away. He hit the ball to the fielder at long-off and tried to take a couple. After realising that there was no second run, he tried to get back to the crease at the non-striker’s end but ended up becoming a victim of a direct hit.

Ryan Rickelton run out (Anukul Roy) 81(43) 

MI 183-3 (15.2)

Kartik Tyagi conceded eight runs in his third over and picked the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav. That won't impact Mumbai Indians' progress as the side is right on top. They need only 38 more to win in 30 balls.

MI 183-2 (15)

Suryakumar Yadav is GONE! He fails to clear the fielder at deep mid-wicket. SKY hit the Kartik Tyagi delivery well but picked the longer side of the ground for it. The ball went high in the air and Rinku took a good catch in the deep.

Suryakumar Yadav c Rinku Singh b Kartik Tyagi 16(8)

MI 179-2 (14.2)

23 runs have come off the last two overs. Anukul Roy conceded 11 before Varun Chakaravarthy was smashed for 12. Mumbai Indians need 46 in 36. They will aim to close it as soon as possible to boost their net run rate.

MI 175-1 (14)

Rohit Sharma is GONE! And that is a sensational piece of fielding from Vaibhav Arora. Rohit mistimed the ball towards the long-on. Arora ran to his right from mid-on and pulled off a timely jump to complete a terrific catch.

Rohit Sharma c Anukul Roy b Vaibhav Arora 78(38)

MI 148-1 (11.5)

13 runs came off the third over from Varun Chakaravarthy. Ryan Rickelton smashed the spinner for a six on the second delivery and concluded the over with a four. Mumbai Indians continue to cruise in this game. 

MI 135-0 (11)

End of 10 overs and Mumbai Indians find themselves in complete control. they have scored 122 without losing any wicket. The chasing team needs 99 runs in 60 balls. It should be an easy task for them with set batters Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton firing on all cylinders. 

MI 122-0 (10)

8.4 - Ryan Rickelton gets to his half-century in just 24 balls. He smashed Sunil Narine for two sixes in the first three balls and then took a single to reach his fifty. Mumbai Indians are dictating terms in this game.

Mumbai Indians have crossed the mark of 100 runs in just 8.1 overs. Sunil Narine pitched it up and Ryan Rickelton smashed it powerfully for a six. This is some insane hitting from the MI opener.

MI 102-0 (8.1)

Sunil Narine was brought into the attack and he conceded eight runs in his first over. On the fourth ball, the KKR spinner pitched the ball up and Ryan Rickelton slog-swept it for a biggie over the deep mid-wicket. 

MI 88-0 (7)

A single and there is the 48th half-century for Mumbai Indians opener Rohit Sharma. This has been a terrific knock from the veteran so far. He has got there in just 23 balls with the help of three fours and five sixes.

MI 80-0 (6)

Terrific piece of batting from Rohit Sharma. He toyed around with Varun Chakaravarthy, smashing the spinner for two fours and one six. 15 runs came off the over. MI have one more over left in the powerplay.

MI 64-0 (5)

Ajinkya Rahane is in some discomfort. It seems like a cramp. The physio has a look at it and the KKR captain is now going out of the ground. This is a huge blow for KKR as the injury seems serious at this point.

Blessing Muzarabani continues to be expensive. He has leaked 15 runs this time. Rohit Sharma started the over with a six over deep cover-point, while Ryan Rickelton smashed a rocket shot over long-on for another maximum.

MI 49-0 (4)

Vaibhav Arora has been smashed for 19 runs in this over. Rohit Sharma started the over with a six while Ryan Rickelton concluded it with two maximums. Mumbai Indians are off to a flying start here.

MI 34-0 (3)

2.2 - Rohit Sharma nails this one for a BIGGIE! It was bowled around the good length by Vaibhav Arora and Rohit smashed it powerfully for a six over the deep mid-wicket. Perfect timing from the former MI captain and the ball goes to a distance of 87 metres.

Blessing Muzarabani has been hit for two fours in his first over. While Rohit Sharma got an inside edge to the fine leg boundary, Ryan Rickelton smashed one over the mid-on player for a four. 

MI 15-0 (2)

Good start from Vaibhav Arora! The right-arm pacer got swing early on and he made full use of it. He kept Ryan Rickelton in check with his outswinging deliveries. Only six runs came off the over.

MI 6-0 (1)

Finn Allen goes out for Kartik Tyagi as KKR pick the pacer from their list of substitutes. The action is set to begin now. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton are out in the middle, with the southpaw taking strike. Vaibhav Arora will bowl the first over. Here we go...

11 runs came off the final over of the innings that was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah. He returned with figures of 0 for 35 in his four. KKR have set a target of 221 runs for Mumbai Indians. This is chasable on this belter track. 

KKR 220-4 (20)

18.3 - Hardik Pandya finally gets a wicket! He has dismissed Angkrish Raghuvanshi. The KKR batter mistimed it to the fielder at long-off. Should Rohit Sharma take a sigh of relief or it's too late now?

Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Tilak Varma b Hardik Pandya 51(29)

Despite being hit for a four on the very first ball of the over, Jasprit Bumrah conceded only eight runs in the over. KKR are only one short of 200. They have 12 balls left in the innings. They must aim to add at least 20 in those. 

KKR 199-3 (18)

Shardul Thakur leaked 14 runs in his final over. He ends his quota with figures of 3 for 39. Three more overs remain in the KKR innings. How much can they get from this point? Remember, Jasprit Bumrah will be bowling two of them.

KKR 191-3 (17)

10 runs came off the Trent Boult over. KKR batters Rinku Singh and Angkrish Raghuvanshi are not taking too many risks and moving the innings forward with timely boundaries. The duo have added 32 runs off 15 balls so far.

KKR 177-3 (16)

14.5 – Oh dear, Rohit Sharma! What have you done there? What could have been a routine boundary-line catch has been made a mess by Rohit. He failed to notice where the boundary was and therefore made the error. The ball popped out of Rohit's hands. To add salt to the injury, the ball touched the ropes after falling on the ground.

This was always coming! Two tight overs from Mumbai Indians gives them a reward. Ajinkya Rahane tried to go big but mistimed it. He ended up slicing the ball to Hardik Pandya at extra cover. Rahane is out for 67.

Ajinkya Rahane c Hardik Pandya b Shardul Thakur 67(40)  

KKR 145-3 (13.3)

Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult have managed to pull things back a bit for Mumbai Indians. After Bumrah's five-run over, Boult conceded eight. KKR still have seven overs left in this innings and they should comfortably get a total of over 200.

KKR 144-2 (13)

Captain Hardik Pandya was forced to bring Jasprit Bumrah into the attack and the ace pacer delivered on his return. He bowled some terrific yorkers to keep Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ajinkya Rahane in check. Only five came off the over.

KKR 136-2 (12)

Ajinkya Rahane slammed his half-century in 27 balls. He got there on the second delivery of the over. This has been an incredible knock from the KKR captain. He promoted himself up the batting order to open with Finn Allen and showed quick results. He made maximum use of the powerplay and found boundaries easily even after that. The show continues!

Shardul Thakur has provided Mumbai Indians a second wicket! He has dismissed Cameron Green! It was a slower short ball outside off-stump and Greeen smashed it into the hands of the fielder at deep cover.

Cameron Green c Sherfane Rutherford b Shardul Thakur 18(10)  

KKR 109-2 (8.5)

Good bowling by Allah Ghazanfar. This is the first over in the KKR innings that didn't have any boundary in it. Only seven runs came off the over. Meanwhile, KKR have crossed the mark of 100 runs.  

KKR 101-1 (8)

Brilliant call from the umpire! It was a googly from Mayank Markande and Ajinkya Rahane missed his flick shot. While the point of impact was somewhere close to the middle stump, the umpire ruled it not out on an appeal for LBW. MI reviewed it, only to lose one, as the ball was found to be missing the leg stump.

KKR 81-1 (6.3)

This has been a superb phase of play for KKR. Finn Allen fired on all cylinders but the sensational attack from Ajinkya Rahane also took MI by surprise. The KKR captain is still not out on 36 off 18 balls.

KKR 78-1 (6)

Shardul Thakur provides MI the much-needed breakthrough! He has trapped Finn Allen, who was firing on all cylinders. It was a slower delivery and Allen found the fielder at long-on after failing to time it well.

Finn Allen c Tilak Varma b Shardul Thakur 37(17)

KKR 69-1 (5.2)

Finn Allen and Ajinkya Rahane continue to find boundaries at will. Nothing has been working for Mumbai Indians at the moment, as even Jasprit Bumrah went for 11 runs in his first over. There is still one over left in the powerplay.

KKR 68-0 (5)

Poor bowling from MI captain Hardik Pandya and equally good batting from Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen. The KKR captain started the Hardik over with two sixes before Allen smashed him for three fours. 26 runs came off the over. Meanwhile, the 50 is up for KKR!

KKR 57-0 (4)

Finn Allen gets into the act! The 20-year-old spinner Allah Ghazanfar was smashed for a four and two sixes in the over by the KKR opener. It is interesting to note that both players are featuring in their first IPL game tonight!

Hardik Pandya bowled tight lines to Finn Allen and managed to keep it a tidy over. The Kiwi star could score only one boundary off the over, that too after getting an inside edge. Quite an uncharacteristic start this is for Allen.

KKR 14-0 (2)

10 runs came off the first over from Trent Boult. Ajinkya Rahane played him with a calculative approach and managed to make it a good over for KKR. Hardik Pandya will bowl from the other end. There he goes!

KKR 10-0 (1)

WOW! That is a terrific shot from Ajinkya Rahane for SIX! Trent Boult went fuller and Rahane flicked it beautifully for a six over the cow corner. That is a confident start for the KKR captain.

KKR 8-0 (0.4)

MI's left-arm pacer Trent Boult is ready with the new ball. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane will face him, keeping Finn Allen at the other end. Here we go... Boult starts with a wide down the leg side.

Mumbai Indians would ideally keep Rohit Sharma in the list of impact subs if they bat second, but this time it is different. Rohit will field for MI and Suryakumar Yadav has been kept in the list of substitutes.

Mumbai Indians (Starting XI): Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton(w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.

Impact Subs: Suryakumar Yadav, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Ashwani Kumar

Kolkata Knight Riders (Starting XI): Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi(w), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora, Blessing Muzarabani.

Impact Subs: Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey, Tejasvi Dahiya

"We were looking to bowl, never seen this amount of grass at Wankhede. Preparations have been good, couple of camps in Kolkata and in Mumbai as well. Know that MI is a champion team and we're looking forward to be playing against them. Just stay at the moment and don't look at the past. A couple of injuries - we're going with 6 batters and 5 bowlers. Four overseas players - Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Sunil Narine and Blessing Muzarabani," said KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane.

"We are going to bowl. Looks like a good track, it appears greener than it used to. Let's see how it plays. This is our fortress, the crowd is behind us and we're looking to play a good game. We started a couple of weeks earlier, have plenty of experience and a mix of youth. Rohit, Surya, Mitchell Santner - so there's no shortage of captains; I'm just excited to go out there and perform. We're going with 6 bowlers and 5 batters," said MI captain Hardik Pandya.

Here's the toss result! Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has won the toss and opted to bowl first against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL 2026 campaign opener. Stay connected with us for the captains' comments and starting XIs.

Spinner Allah Ghazanfar and batting all-rounder Sherfane Rutherford have received their Mumbai Indians debut caps and are set to play tonight. MI had bought Afghan mystery spinner Ghazanfar for Rs 4.80 crore during the IPL 2025 auction, while they traded Rutherford from Gujarat Titans for his existing fee of Rs 2.6 crore ahead of IPL 2026.

"KKR used to be a halwa for Rohit Sharma a few years back. He is going to smash their bowling like eating halwa tomorrow. KKR is his badam halwa team. Once KKR comes itself, Rohit is in a comfort zone," said former India opener Kris Srikkanth in a video on his YouTube channel on the eve of this game.

The absence of Will Jacks and Mitchell Santner opens the door for batter Sherfane Rutherford and mystery spinner Allah Ghazanfar to potentially play today. Interestingly, both Rutherford and Ghazanfar were part of KKR's IPL 2024-winning squad, but did not get a single game.

KKR face a significant dilemma when it comes to picking which 4 overseas players to go with. Sunil Narine and Cameron Green are expected to be a lock, but what about the other two? Finn Allen's recent form and game-changing ability is possibly going to get him the nod over his NZ opening partner Tim Seifert. 

But KKR's big dilemma comes in picking their last overseas player. They could go with either pacer Blessing Muzarabani or powerhitter Rovman Powell. It's a big call, given KKR's relative inexperience in both areas.

Mumbai Indians are without England all-rounder Will Jacks and New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner today. There is no confirmation yet whether the duo have even joined up with the MI camp. Last season, both players were regular features in MI's lineup.

Kolkata Knight Riders splashed Rs 25.20 crore on Australian all-rounder Cameron Green in the auction, a record IPL fee for an overseas player. Today, he is likely to make his debut, even though questions remain regarding how many overs he will bowl. 

Interestingly, Green is set to return to Mumbai, which was the franchise with whom he had made his IPL debut.

Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene announced on the eve of the game that ace speedster Jasprit Bumrah is available to play in the match against KKR tonight. Earlier this month, Bumrah reportedly visited the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru for workload management.

Kolkata Knight Riders have been severely hit by injuries. While Harshit Rana and Akash Deep have been ruled out of the tournament, Matheesha Pathirana is also set to miss at least two weeks of action due to a calf strain.

While the franchise is hunting for their sixth IPL crown, Mumbai Indians last won their IPL season opener in 2012 when they defeated Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets. In their last 18 campaign openers, MI have won four games and lost 14. Notably, they lost their very first match as well, to Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008.

Mumbai Indians Squad: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock (w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Shardul Thakur, Corbin Bosch, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Raj Bawa, Robin Minz, Naman Dhir, Ryan Rickelton, AM Ghazanfar, Mayank Markande, Danish Malewar, Ashwani Kumar, Mohammed Salahuddin Izhar, Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Mayank Rawat, Atharva Ankolekar, Raghu Sharma.

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Tim Seifert (w), Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Umran Malik, Rahul Tripathi, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Rachin Ravindra, Blessing Muzarabani, Navdeep Saini, Prashant Solanki, Daksh Kamra, Sarthak Ranjan, Tejasvi Dahiya, Saurabh Dubey.

Mumbai Indians are set to create history tonight. With their appearance in the match against KKR, they will become the first franchise team to play 300 T20 matches. Overall, MI will join Pakistan national cricket team and English country side Somerset County Cricket Club to achieve the feat.

Hello everyone, welcome to this space. Five-time champions Mumbai Indians take on three-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders in the second game of the Indian Premier League 2026 tonight. Stay connected for live scores and updates of the game.