The Mumbai Indians (MI) have finally ended their long-standing opening match jinx in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The last time they started a season with a win was back in 2012. The IPL 2026 opener became more important because Mumbai Indians (MI) faced Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) who they have beaten 24 times out of 35 matches and 11 times out of 13 matches at Wankhede Stadium. MI have accomplished their goal after 13 years of waiting. The 13-year-long curse has been lifted after 5107 days. KKR maintained their rivalry with MI after they scored 220 runs. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane lost his momentum after the powerplay ended. He scored 36 runs from 18 balls but he could only score 31 runs from 22 balls until his dismissal happened in the 14th over. Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s innings didn’t truly impress. KKR would have ended with 210 runs if their entire team had batted at his strike rate of 175.86 which appeared solid to him. Rinku Singh needed 21 balls to reach 33 runs. Ramandeep Singh their most aggressive batter faced four deliveries. MI successfully completed their run chase when they reached 221 runs after 19.1 overs. Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton made the massive chase look easy, setting a new record for the highest successful run chase for MI and at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL history. Rohit Sharma quickly made up for dropping Raghuvanshi’s catch earlier. He reached his half-century during the powerplay when he hit his sixth ball after 23 deliveries. He controlled the game through his performance against Varun Chakaravarthy and Kartik Tyagi during the powerplay. Rickelton increased his scoring speed to exceed Rohit’s batting performance. The former MI captain continued his aggressive play to maintain his active role in the match. An outstanding catch by Anukul Roy off Vaibhav Arora’s bowling finally ended Rohit’s innings, leaving him just 22 runs short of his third IPL century. The match showed that Cameron Green remained unbowled by his team. KKR faced bigger problems than Cameron Green not playing. The pitch conditions prevented spinners from making effective use of their main bowling assets Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine. The fast bowlers failed to achieve any successful outcomes through their bowling efforts. Narine became the most economical bowler because he allowed only 10 runs for every over he bowled. Also Read | 'Elite Stuff': Irfan Pathan Praises Rohit Sharma After Stunning 78 vs KKR Though KKR had a specific game plan to follow the team failed to execute their strategy on the field. The substitute for Rahane Rinku needed to use Blessing Muzarabani for short-ball deliveries during the middle overs. The powerplay needed to start with Narine because Rohit struggles against spin bowling during his initial batting phase. The match showed KKR only received one positive development from Finn Allen. Their fielding looked poor because they dropped catches and misfielded the ball while MI gained control of the match. The absence of Mustafizur Rahman along with the injuries to Harshit Rana and Matheesha Pathirana created difficulties for them yet these problems could not justify their poor bowling and ineffective strategies along with their overall performance.