NEW DELHI: Mumbai Indians ended their long wait for a winning start to the IPL season by beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by six wickets in a 221-run chase at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.Mumbai haven’t won their opening game of an IPL season since 2012, but they broke that run with a successful run chase at home and did so by pulling off their biggest run chase in IPL history.The previous highest for MI was 219 runs against CSK in Delhi in 2021. Openers Rohit Sharma (78 off 38) and Ryan Rickelton (81 off 43) started the chase with half-centuries to give the team a strong start. The batsmen who followed kept the score going as Mumbai completed the chase.The last time Mumbai won their opening match was in 2012 against Chennai Super Kings.Earlier, KKR posted 220 for 4 after half-centuries from skipper Ajinkya Rahane (67) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (51).Shardul Thakur returned figures of 3 for 39 and provided key wickets even as the Mumbai bowlers struggled to control the score. Trent Boult (0/38) and Jasprit Bumrah (0/35) finished wicketless, but Bumrah’s overs at the end restricted KKR to get close to 250.Rahane scored 67 off 40 balls, with five sixes and three fours. He also hit a six over Mayank Markande and another over midwicket off Ghazanfar.Raghuvanshi started slowly but picked up towards the end. He was dropped at 21 by Rohit of Ghazanfar in the 15th over. He later reached his fifty before being dismissed in the 19th over by Pandya for 51 off 29 balls, including six fours and two sixes.KKR ended on 220 for 4 but Mumbai chased down the target to record their first opening match win in the IPL in over a decade.Here are some other stats from the matchMost wins against an opponent at a venue in the IPL11 – MI vs KKR at Wankhede (13 mats)*9 – KKR vs PBKS in Kolkata (14 matches)9 – SRH vs PBKS at Hyderabad (10 mats)He mostly successfully chases 200 plus in IPL8 – PBKS6 – MI*4 – RR4 – SRH4 – RCB
