India’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav was named among Mumbai Indians’ Impact Subs, while former captain Rohit Sharma was part of the playing XI for the clash against KKR. Last year, Rohit featured as an Impact Substitute in several games for Mumbai Indians.
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl. Suryakumar was not included in the starting XI and is expected to be used as an impact player during the chase.
Mumbai handed a debut to Afghanistan spinner AM Ghazanfar. Shardul Thakur and Sherfane Rutherford also made their first appearances for the franchise. The team picked Ryan Rickelton ahead of Quinton de Kock after his 388 runs in 14 innings last season. Trent Boult was named as the fourth overseas player.
The bowling attack is led by Jasprit Bumrah, with support from Boult and Shardul. Mayank Markande and Ghazanfar are the spin options.
“Looks like a good track, looks a bit greener than it is used to, so let’s see,” Hardik said at the toss. “This is our fortress, this is our ground and we hope we can entertain the crowd. We started a couple of weeks earlier and the boys have got enough time to prepare.”
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Ajinkya Rahane said he had “never seen so much of grass at Wankhede.”
KKR included three overseas debutants. Finn Allen opened the batting, while Cameron Green and Blessing Muzarabani were also named in the XI. Sunil Narine is the fourth overseas player. Angkrish Raghuvanshi kept wickets. Kartik Tyagi is among the Impact Player options.
Mumbai Indians have won 24 of their 35 matches against Kolkata Knight Riders. At the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai lead 10-2. Since 2024, KKR lead the head-to-head 2-1.
MI vs KKR: Playing XIs
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Shardul Thakur, Mayank Markande, AM Ghazanfar, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult
Impact Subs: Suryakumar Yadav, Corbin Bosch, Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Ashwani Kumar
Kolkata Knight Riders: Finn Allen, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi (wk), Rinku Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, Blessing Muzarabani
Impact Subs: Manish Pandey, Tejasvi Singh, Kartik Tyagi, Saurabh Dubey, Rovman Powell
