As the excitement builds for IPL 2026, set to commence on March 28, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have made an important announcement: Rinku Singh will take on the role of vice-captain for the upcoming season.
Under the guidance of captain Ajinkya Rahane, KKR is aiming high this year. The tournament opens with a thrilling match between the defending champions, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the iconic M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) has confirmed that this venue will host five RCB home games during IPL 2026, as well as a playoff match and the final showdown. Meanwhile, RCB’s other two home fixtures will take place at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
KKR will kick off their campaign against the formidable Mumbai Indians (MI) on March 29 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. With Rahane at the helm, the team is eager to snatch the title. KKR’s head coach, Abhishek Nayar, also expressed enthusiasm about welcoming assistant coach Shane Watson, highlighting his positive impact during their brief interaction.
The squads for the Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians are as follows:
**Kolkata Knight Riders**: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Manish Pandey, Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi, Tim Seifert (WK), Rinku Singh, Rovman Powell, Sarthak Ranjan, Finn Allen (WK), Rachin Ravindra, Cameron Green, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kartik Tyagi, Blessing Muzarabani, Akash Deep, Prashant Solanki, Matheesha Pathirana, Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Harshit Rana, Tejasvi Singh (WK), Daksh Kamra.
**Mumbai Indians**: Rohit Sharma, Trent Boult, Suryakumar Yadav, Quinton de Kock (WK), Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Corbin Bosch, Hardik Pandya (C), Jasprit Bumrah, Ryan Rickelton (WK), Will Jacks, Mayank Rawat, Mayank Markande, Sherfane Rutherford, Raghu Sharma, Atharva Ankolekar, Tilak Varma, Ashwani Kumar, Raj Bawa, Danish Malewar, Robin Minz (WK), Allah Ghazanfar, Naman Dhir, Mohammed Salahuddin Izhar.