Mumbai Indians are set to lock horns against Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 2 of the IPL 2026 on Sunday (March 29) at the Wankhede Stadium.
KKR failed to
qualify for playoffs last time and enter this season with a host of new faces, while the Paltans continue with their strong core as they aim for a strong bid for the 6th title.
MI, led by Hardik Pandya, enter as pre-tournament favourites, aiming to end a five-year title drought since their last win in 2020. Their batting firepower features Rohit Sharma (returning to a key role), explosive Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock, Tilak Varma, and all-rounders like Hardik and Sherfane Rutherford. Bowling is anchored by Jasprit Bumrah.
MI boast a dominant home record against KKR at Wankhede with 10 wins in 12 meetings, but face a historical "opening match jinx" - they haven't won their IPL season opener since 2012.
KKR, captained by Ajinkya Rahane, arrive with injury concerns. They rely on overseas stars like Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Sunil Narine, and Varun Chakravarthy, with Rinku Singh providing middle-order firepower. Their spin-heavy attack could trouble MI on a typical Wankhede pitch that offers early pace and bounce before favouring batters.
MI vs KKR Team News, Injury Update
Jasprit Bumrah is fully fit and available after workload management. Will Jacks and Mitchell Santner are unavailable for the opener as they are yet to join the squad. Young all-rounder Atharva Ankolekar is ruled out due to knee surgery.
The Knight Riders have Mustafizur Rahman, Harshit Rana and Akash Deep out with injuries, with the players being replaced by Blessing Muzarabani, Saurabh Dubey and Navdeep Saini, respectively. Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana has not yet been replaced, but he is yet to get a clearance for IPL.
MI vs KKR Playing 11: Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders Predicted Lineups
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Will Jacks, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult.
MI Impact Players - Naman Dhir/Robin Minz/Danish Malewar/Raj Bawa
Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Blessing Muzarabani
KKR Impact Players - Rahul Tripathi/Manish Pandey/Kartik Tyagi/Navdeep Saini
