Ryan Rickelton played one of the innings of IPL 2026, an unbeaten 123 off 55 balls, the highest ever score by a Mumbai Indians batter in the tournament’s history. But it still wasn’t enough against the batting might of Sunrisers Hyderabad in another run-fest at Wankhede Stadium. MI went against the grain and batted first for the first time in 22 games at Wankhede Stadium. Led by Rickelton’s sensational ton, they amassed 243 for 5, their highest first-innings score in the IPL. SRH hardly broke a sweat in chasing it down by six wickets and eight balls to spare.
Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head added 129 runs for the opening wicket, with 92 coming in the powerplay. Heinrich Klassen thrashed an unbeaten 65 off 30, while Salil Arora smoked 30 not out off ten balls to hand SRH the fourth highest successful chase in the IPL and their fifth straight win of the season.
Just eight games into the season, MI were already into the fourth opening partnership, this time with Will Jacks and Rickelton. Their powerplay run-rate of 8.55 coming into this game was the fourth-worst of the season. But it was fourth-time lucky for MI.
The two immediately found the pace of the surface, matching each other shot for shot. Jacks ended the first six overs on 38 off 18 with five fours and two sixes; Rickelton ended with 37 off 18 with three fours and three sixes. MI amassed 78 in the powerplay, their second-highest score this season in this phase.
MI raced to 93 in just seven overs but Nitish Kumar Reddy struck a timely blow, getting Jacks to edge a fuller ball to the wicketkeeper. Suryakumar Yadav’s rotten season continued as he top-edged an Eshan Malinga bouncer to deep-backward square leg but Rickelton wasn’t relenting. He began his IPL 2026 with an 81 against Kolkata Knight Riders, but three single-digit scores in the next four games and Quinton de Kock’s surge in form forced him to spend time on the sidelines. But with de Kock injured, Rickelton was back and how.
When Reddy dismissed Jacks, Rickelton struck him for a four and six in the same over to reach a 23-ball half-century, his quickest in the IPL. Pat Cummins and Sakib Hussain were both picked for boundaries before Harsh Dubey was thumped for back-to-back sixes. Rickelton raced through the nineties by thumping Reddy for a four and six in the 15th over and then reached a maiden IPL ton in 44 balls, the quickest by a MI batter ever. He struck at 300 against Reddy [24 off eight], 314.28 against Dubey [22 off seven] and 270 against Hinge [27 off ten]. At the other end, Hardik Pandya also found form, as MI raced to 202 for 3 after 16.
But SRH made a fine comeback in the death overs, led by Malinga, who finished with 1 for 29, an economy of just 7.25. Cummins also bowled a boundary-less 17th over but Rickelton ended the innings on a high with a six and four. Despite that MI added just 41 in the last four overs.