Rohit, Rickelton power MI to dominant win over LSG
With a blistering 21-ball 63, Nicholas Pooran returned to form and set the tone for LSG's massive 228 for 5. However, Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton turned it into a one-sided contest with a 143-run opening stand off only 65 balls, despite their bowlers repeatedly erring in lengths on a surface that had little mercy for pacers. MI won the match with eight balls remaining and six wickets in hand, earning their first victory at the Wankhede this season. It was MI's highest total ever and the sixth-highest ever achieved by any IPL team.
While it would be easy to attribute MI's victory to the opening pair of Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma for their blistering 143-run stand, the bowlers' contributions in the middle (overs 12-15) and death (overs 17-20) phases are hard to ignore. They only gave up 42 runs in those seven overs (two each by Jasprit Bumrah, Raghu Sharma, and Deepak Chahar, and one by Ghazanfar), which was a big difference in a game where nearly 460 runs were scored.
The Mumbai Indians' return of former captain Rohit Sharma, who had recovered from his injury, was the most notable of the team's lineup changes coming into the match. However, their skipper Hardik Pandya was out because of a back spasm, so they were without him.
Josh Inglis finally made the much-anticipated appearance in IPL 2026, when he was selected for his first game of the season. He joined Mitchell Marsh as the opening batsman and made an immediate impression, scoring three boundaries in four balls. However, he missed a carrom ball off AM Ghazanfar and was run out early.
Nicholas Pooran, out of shape, quickly shed his rustiness and joined the action, preventing the early fall of Inglis from halting the momentum. When he slowed down the pace, Will Jacks' offspin was ineffective, allowing the southpaw to hit three sixes. Even when he faced Ghazanfar in the subsequent over, when the spinner was bowled out for 19 runs, he maintained the momentum.
At the other end, Marsh made sure that the pace didn't slow down. Before muscling two more boundaries, he had already smoked Jasprit Bumrah's slower delivery for a six down the ground. LSG scored 90 runs in the first six overs, their highest total in the IPL, despite Bumrah's two Powerplay overs leaking 31 runs.
Even after the field restrictions were lifted, LSG continued to smoke their 10th six of the innings midway through the eighth over. However, the break was provided by Corbin Bosch. Marsh nailed a pull straight to the fielder at deep midwicket after Pooran was rushed into a pull and got an edge to the 'keeper. Despite the fact that both of the set batters were sent back in the same over, their easy 94-run partnership set the stage for a huge score.
Not right away. Following the duo's dismissal, LSG selected 14 runs for each over. However, Ghazanfar, Bumrah, and Raghu Sharma took the momentum out of their innings when Akshat Raghuwanshi was also sent back for a brief time. In just four overs, the trio only gave up 20 runs.
Definitely. When Bumrah saw Himmat Singh nicking at the keeper, he realized he had gone too far. For a good portion of this season, it has been a problem with his bowling. It was one of three times he overstepped during the game, bringing his season total to seven, which is more than twice as many as the next highest.
It appeared that it would for a time. Himmat, who was batting on 2 off 4 then, had added 21 more off the next 12 deliveries, clubbing Ghazanfar and Raghu for sixes in the following overs. However, Himmat and Aiden Markram were unable to generate a strong response to the yorkers that Deepak Chahar and Bumrah used in the final three overs. They scored only 23 runs off the final 20 balls of the innings, with only one of those deliveries reaching the fence.
Rohit took some time to get going, but he didn't look too rusty. His first boundary came off with an edge after a few confident punches. In the third over, he took Mohammed Shami's delivery and hit a six over deep midwicket for his first decisive shot. Rohit's attack began in the final Powerplay over when he tore Avesh Khan apart for two boundaries and as many sixes off successive deliveries while Rickelton had already raced away to 30 off 12 balls.
Even though Mumbai Indians were significantly slower than LSG in the Powerplay, the openers made sure they kept up the required pace and took advantage of the flat surface while they were in the middle. Particularly, Rohit made use of the numerous yorkers reaching as low as full-tosses for him. He scored his most IPL runs with seven sixes in his innings.
Both Rohit and Rickelton reached their half-centuries in just three deliveries, with Rohit surpassing the mark by launching Manimaran Siddharth over long on for a six. Before Rickelton hit one straight to Inglis at extra cover off the penultimate ball of the 11th over, the duo wasted 143 runs.
No way at all. Rohit plundered 34 more runs in the company of Tilak Varma in the next three overs before top-edging a sweep to short fine leg and finishing his innings 16 short of a century. A flurry of full tosses continued to be thrown, and Rohit had found his vintage rhythm. His 84-run homer was the most by a MI batter against LSG.
With eight wickets remaining, the requirement had been reduced to 52 runs in six overs at that point. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak attempted to measure the attack with the goal of victory in sight and the ball coming easily to the plate. While they both left in an effort to hit big, the scoring rate decreased, and victory was inevitable. Will Jacks and Naman Dhir led the team over the finish line, giving LSG some last-minute hope.
LSG, which has only two victories in nine games, is still trying to get out of last place despite the big win. MI remains in ninth place on the points table.
The following matchup will feature the same opponent for both teams. Mumbai Indians will take a long break before facing RCB on Sunday, May 10, at their new "home" ground in Raipur, while LSG will travel home to face RCB on Thursday, May 7.
