On Sunday, March 29, Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by six wickets to begin their 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Hardik Pandya, the captain of MI, chose to field first after winning the toss.
KKR had a fantastic start with the bat. The openers, Finn Allen and Ajinkya Rahane added a 69-run partnership in just 32 balls. [Related: RR vs CSK Highlights]Rahane made 67 off 40 balls for his 34th IPL fifty.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi also had a big fifty, scoring 51 off 29 balls. Ultimately, the Kolkata based team made 220/4 at 20 overs. Shardul Thakur was MI’s best bowler. He claimed the key wickets of Cameron Green, Allen and Rahane.
MI openers Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma provided well-settled groundwork for the chase with a brilliant 148-run partnership in 71 balls. Sharma scored his speediest IPL 50 in only 23 balls. In the end, the former captain completed with 78 runs in only 38 balls.
Rickelton was run out for 81 off 43 balls, denied a deserved century. Kartik Tyagi, Anukul Roy and Vaibhav Arora took onewicket apiece. Significantly, the win ended MI’s 13-year long streak of losing opening matches. Shardul was declared Player of the Match for his three-wicket haul.
Here, we examine three game-related situations that caused a stir among the supporters.
3. Angkrish Raghuvanshi sweeps Jasprit Bumrah with authority
Young KKR batsman Angkrish Raghuvanshi played a few delightful shots during his innings. MI’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah was countered with utmost aplomb by him, imprinting a sweep shot off the pacer’s bowling.
Bumrah bowled a full toss to the first ball of 18th over. The 21-year-old moved across the stumps and played a sweep. He caught the gap, and the ball zoomed away to the square-leg boundary for a four.
Notably, Bumrah come back strong after the four. On the other five balls, the ace bowler gave away only four runs.
2. Hardik Pandya bowls his joint-second-most-expensive over in IPL
In the powerplay, KKR openers Ajinkya Rahane and Finn Allen plundered badly against Hardik Pandya. In the fourth over, Rahane hit two consecutive sixes off the all-rounder.
Allen joined the party thereafter, smashing three fours. In the over, Hardik also bowled a wide and ended up conceding 26 runs (25 + 1 leg bye). According to the rules, leg bye runs are not added to the bowler’s figures.
Hardik’s 25-run over is his joint-second most expensive of those in IPL. He gave away 39 runs in his three overs and got rid of Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the process.
1. Anukul Roy does well to bring an end to Rohit Sharma’s blitzkrieg
Rohit Sharma was in his vintage best. He hit six maximums and same number of fours, with a strike rate of 205.26. His knock came to an end in the 12th over after an outstanding effort from Anukul Roy.
The seasoned batter tried to go big on a full toss by pacer Vaibhav Arora but could not get the required connection. The ball went through Anukul Roy at mid-on. But KKR all-rounder ran and took a stunning catch on the run to dismiss Sharma.
