Mumbai Indians expose KKR’s toothless bowling, break IPL opening match curse

The Mumbai Indians (MI) have broken their opening match curse in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 2012 was the last time Mumbai kicked off their season with a victory. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), a team against whom MI had an impeccable record, 24-11, which improved to 11-2 at the Wankhede Stadium, was their opponent in the IPL 2026 opener.

KKR’s under par batting

And guess what? MI has finally broken the curse. It’s taken them 13 years (5107 days) but they’ve done it. Despite KKR scoring 220, MI were in the game. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane had slowed down post-powerplay. He scored 36 (18) when the field was up and then 31 (22) until he was dismissed in the 14th over.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s wasn’t really that great. A 175.86 strike rate looks good at a glance. But if the entire team had batted at that, KKR would’ve made 210. That’s 10 runs under par. Even Rinku Singh couldn’t get going, scoring 33 off 21. Their most destructive batter, Ramandeep Singh, played just 4 balls.

Rohit & Rickelton dismantle KKR’s bowling

In reply, MI chased the 221-run target in 19.1 overs. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton made light work of the mammoth chase, breaking the record for the highest successful chase for MI or at the Wankhede Stadium by any team in the IPL.

Rohit, who had dropped Raghuvanshi’s catch earlier, made up in no time. On the last ball of the powerplay, Rohit brought up his half-century in just 23 balls. He dismantled Varun Chakaravarthy and Kartik Tyagi, which basically sealed the game in the powerplay.

Then, Rickelton took charge and actually overtook Rohit. But the former MI captain was in no mood to stop. He wasn’t going to play the second fiddle. A spectacular catch by Anukul Roy off of Vaibhav Arora’s bowling ended Rohit’s knock, 22 short of his third IPL hundred.

Any bowling plans?

Fascinatingly, Cameron Green didn’t bowl. But that wasn’t the biggest problem for KKR. The pitch wasn’t made for spinners. That nullified KKR’s biggest weapons, Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine. But their pacers weren’t any better. Narine had the lowest economy of all bowlers, going at 10 runs per over.

Yes, the pitch wasn’t made for bowlers, but that doesn’t mean you don’t follow the plans. Rinku, who subbed in for Rahane, could’ve brought Blessing Muzarabani for a short ball spell in the middle overs. Even Green could’ve done that. Knowing Rohit isn’t great against spin, especially early on, Narine could’ve been handed the ball in the powerplay.

Barring Finn Allen, KKR didn’t have any positives from the game. Their fielding was woeful. Dropped catches, misfields, and no energy when MI were ahead in the game. They were handicapped due to injuries to Harshit Rana and Matheesha Pathirana, and Mustafizur Rahman couldn’t be picked, but that can’t be used as an excuse for what was pathetic bowling, usage, and tactics.

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