Jasprit Bumrah is back in Mumbai Indians colours and, crucially, ready for Sunday’s IPL opener against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede. Head coach Mahela Jayawardene confirmed the fast-bowler’s availability on Friday, drawing a neat line under a week of speculation after Bumrah spent time at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
The stint in Bengaluru, arranged by the board’s medical team, was less about the IPL and more about ensuring Bumrah is at full tilt for India’s white-ball tour of England in July. Even so, his presence now is significant. Last season he missed the first four games with a back problem yet still finished as MI’s second-highest wicket-taker – 18 victims at 6.67 runs an over – and then shared top billing at the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Mumbai will, however, start the campaign without New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner and England all-rounder Will Jacks. Both asked for extra time at home.
“Mitch and Jacksy both asked for a slightly extended time for personal reasons,” Jayawardene said. “And we were quite happy to go with that. But they’ll join the team pretty soon.
“I’m not sure [when they will join] but pretty soon. It’s just that we don’t want to divulge what is not fair for either party. But being honest, we feel that it’s fine with us with who we have got.”
In Santner’s absence, left-arm spin options narrow, so Afghan teenager AM Ghazanfar – more finger-spinner than mystery man – may get a look. The batting vacancy could hand West Indian Sherfane Rutherford a middle-order role, a like-for-like replacement in terms of six-hitting if not off-spin.
History offers Mumbai mixed comfort. They have not won their opening fixture since 2012 – an oddly persistent hoodoo – yet their home record versus KKR is imposing: ten wins from twelve. Conditions in late March usually mean a fresh, slightly tacky surface early on before the evening dew flattens things out, so a second specialist spinner is rarely luxury.
For Bumrah, the equation is simpler: get through four overs unscathed and, ideally, swing a familiar contest MI’s way. The speed-ster has done it often enough; on Sunday he gets first crack at doing it all again.
