Mumbai, March 28 – Five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) will begin their campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against the three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
MI enters the 2026 season with a clear goal: to win their sixth title in the tournament. The team will once again be led by Hardik Pandya, who has been leading the team for the third consecutive year and is eager to achieve a successful campaign this time.
MI had a strong comeback in the previous season and secured their spot in the playoffs. Their campaign ended after the team lost to the Punjab Kings in the qualifiers. The five-time champions have not won a trophy since 2020 and aim to end their quest in the upcoming season.
With a strong core that includes Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Trent Boult, Mumbai looks like a well-balanced and dangerous team on paper.
Meanwhile, Kolkata Knight Riders have also put together a strong squad after making the most of their large budget at the mini-auction. The team will continue under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane, who will rely on a powerful lineup featuring players like Cameron Green, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and Finn Allen. Notably, this will be the first season in more than ten years that KKR will play without Andre Russell in their squad.
KKR had a disastrous season last year, where the team was only able to win five matches out of the 14 they played in the group stage. The team finished in 8th position despite being the defending champions.
When: March 29, 7:30 PM IST
Where: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Where to watch on TV: Fans can watch the MI vs KKR match live on Star Sports channels.
Where to watch on mobile and laptop: Fans can watch the live streaming on the JioHotstar website and mobile app. It will be available in many regional languages.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickleton, Robin Minz, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Naman Dhir, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Allah Ghafanzar, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Sherfane Rutherford, Mayank Markande, Shardul Thakur, Quinton de Kock, Mohammad Izhar, Danish Malewar, Atharva Ankolekar, Mayank Rawat.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Manish Pandey, Rovman Powell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Umran Malik, Varun Chakaravarthy, Cameron Green, Finn Allen, Matheesha Pathirana, Kartik Tyagi, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert, Tejasvi Dahiya, Sarthak Ranjan, Rachin Ravindra, Akash Deep, Prashant Solanki, Daksh Kamra
