Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 is going to start from March 28. The first match of the season is to be played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). This match is to be held at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The next day, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will clash at Wankhede Stadium. MI has played 35 matches against KKR, of which it has won 24 matches. The five-time champion team would like to improve this record on its home ground. Also, MI would like batsmen like captain Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav to come into form.
The form of big batsmen is missing
Suryakumar Yadav, who led India to the T20 World Cup 2026 title under his captaincy, is again struggling for runs. Earlier this year, Surya had returned to form with a stellar performance in the T20 series against New Zealand, but after playing an unbeaten inning of 84 runs in India’s first match in the T20 World Cup, he could not do anything special. Surya was out on a golden duck in the final. He scored 242 runs in the tournament and his strike rate was only 136.72.
Same is the condition of Hardik Pandya also. Hardik could score only 217 runs in 9 innings in the T20 World Cup. His strike rate was definitely 160.74 but he failed to play big shots in the last overs. MI has expectations from him for a strong finish. Also, Hardik will have to perform amazingly with the ball also. Rohit Sharma has been away from competitive cricket for a long time. He played his last match on January 18 against South Africa, in which he scored only 11 runs. Rohit was able to score only 61 runs in that 3-match series against South Africa.
MI is not known for making good starts to the season. This puts extra pressure on him at the end of the season. The team management would like Hardik to return to form along with Rohit-Surya, so that the start can be good. In bowling, Jasprit Bumrah will need help from senior fast bowlers like Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar. Mitchell Santner and Mayank Markandey will be in the spin department.
Also read: Sachin did not want to retire, BCCI forced him, big revelation by ex-selector!
mumbai indians schedule
- vs – KKR, March 29, Mumbai (Wankhede)
- vs – DC, 4 April, Delhi
- vs – RR, 7 April, Guwahati
- vs – RCB, April 12, Mumbai (Wankhede)
Also read: Why was the schedule of only 20 IPL matches? know the real reason
Mumbai Indians Squad: Hardik Pandya (captain), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Ryan Rickleton, Robin Minze, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Naman Dheer, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Allah Ghazanfar, Ashwini Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacques, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Sharfan Radford, Mayank Markandey, Shardul Thakur, Quinton De Kock, Mohammad Izhar, Danish Malewar, Atharva Ankolkar, Mayank Rawat
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