Kris Srikkanth backed Rohit Sharma to dominate the Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) bowlers in the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) opening game of IPL 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday, March 29.
The former India opener mentioned how Rohit wreaked havoc against KKR during his illustrious IPL career. The right-handed batter has amassed more than 1000 runs at an average of over 38, including a century in 2012.
“KKR used to be a halwa for Rohit Sharma a few years back. He is going to smash their bowling like eating halwa tomorrow. KKR is his badam halwa team. Once KKR comes itself, Rohit is in a comfort zone,” Srikkanth said in a video on his YouTube channel.
However, Rohit has struggled against KKR of late. He crossed 25 runs in only one out of the last eight innings against the three-time champions. His last half-century against KKR came way back in 2020.
Srikkanth also highlighted the lack of form of KKR’s star signing, Cameron Green, in recent matches. During the recently-concluded T20 World Cup, Green’s performance was abysmal with bat and ball.
“There are already murmurs that he’ll only bowl two overs. That’s slacking off on full effort. It’s been an eternity since he has scored runs, also,” said Srikkanth on Green (via the aforementioned source).
MI should win for sure: Srikkanth
Srikkanth said that MI are the overwhelming favourites heading into the clash against KKR. While the 1983 World Cup winner praised KKR’s efforts in the IPL 2026 mini auction, he mentioned that injuries to Harshit Rana and Matheesha Pathirana and the unavailability of Mustafizur Rahman has dented the balance of the Ajinkya Rahane-led side.
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“MI should win for sure. I would say they hold a 75-25 edge. MI has every base covered and are a 9.5/10 team. KKR actually did a good job in the auction. Mustafizur was a good pick, and if he and Pathirana had been there, they would have had a good balance. Harshit Rana being unfit was a big hit for them,” Srikkanth said.
“If everyone were available, KKR had a good bowling side. They were actually one of the teams that did a very good job in the auction. But it’s been a complete turn of events after that,” he added.
