By Admin 
Mumbai Indians (MI) have started their journey in IPL 2026 with a win. Thanks to the explosive innings of Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickleton, MI defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 6 wickets in the match played at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Amidst the rain of runs, Shardul Thakur played an important role with his bowling in MI’s victory and won the title of Player of the Match.
After the match, Shardul Thakur said, “Batting the sixth over was a challenge. I love challenges. Today’s performance was also something like that. This ground has given me both bitter and sweet memories. Playing for Mumbai is very special in itself. I was a net bowler in 2010. Finally, the day has come when I am playing for my home team, Mumbai Indians. If I remain here, I will really feel proud.” Would be very happy. The amount of support I have received from the management is really amazing.”
Shardul Thakur gave away 39 runs in 4 overs and took three important wickets of Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane and Cameron Green.
Shardul, who plays domestic cricket for Mumbai, has been playing IPL since 2015, but for the first time he got a chance to play for MI and in the very first match he led his team to victory. For the first time since 2012, MI has won the first match of a season.
Talking about the match, KKR, who came to bat first after losing the toss, had scored 220 runs for 4 wickets. Captain Rahane had played the highest innings of 67 runs. Apart from this, Angkrish Raghuvanshi played an inning of 51 runs in 29 balls with the help of 2 sixes and 6 fours. Finn Allen scored 37 runs on 17 balls, Rinku Singh played an unbeaten inning of 33 runs on 21 balls. Cameron Green scored 18 runs on 10 balls.
Mumbai Indians scored 224 runs for 4 wickets in 19.1 overs and won the match by 6 wickets. For MI, Rohit Sharma played an inning of 78 runs in 38 balls with the help of 6 fours and 6 sixes. During this, Rohit completed his fifty in 23 balls. This is his fastest half-century in IPL. Rickleton also played an innings of 81 runs in 43 balls with the help of 8 sixes and 4 fours. Both of them made a partnership of 148 runs for the first wicket in 11.5 overs.