Ryan Rickelton's 44-ball ton at Wankhede was the night Mumbai found their opener again
Ryan Rickelton's IPL 2026 had not been going to plan. He opened it with 81 against Kolkata Knight Riders, then made three single-digit scores in the four matches that followed, and then sat out as Quinton de Kock walked back in and produced an unbeaten 112 against Punjab Kings on his comeback. By the time Mumbai got to the back end of April, the South African was the contingent player in their top order rather than a fixture in it.
De Kock's wrist injury opened the door at the Wankhede on Wednesday. Rickelton walked through it with an unbeaten 123 off 55 balls, the fastest IPL century by a Mumbai player and the highest individual score by an MI batter in the league's history. The previous record had stood since 2008, when Sanath Jayasuriya hit 114 not out at the same ground in IPL's inaugural season.
A 44-ball ton in the powerplay's afterglow
Rickelton's hundred came up in 44 deliveries. It was built on eight sixes and ten fours, and Will Jacks at the other end made the start cleaner still with a 22-ball 46. The pair pushed Mumbai to 78 without loss inside the powerplay and never let SRH in. Mumbai finished on 243 for 5, the second-highest team total at the Wankhede in IPL.
The total was not enough, in the end. Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen took the chase home with eight balls to spare. None of that lands on Rickelton, though; the case for his place was made before the SRH innings began.
A debut season of 388 runs, and now a hundred
Mumbai retained Rickelton ahead of IPL 2026 on the strength of a debut season in which he scored 388 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 150.97. He had given them quick-fire starts at the top through 2025, and the franchise wanted that early-overs floor again.
What this season had not yet given them was a definitive innings, the kind of knock that settles the conversation about who opens and who waits. The Wankhede 123 is that innings. Even with the loss, the question of MI's opening pair has now been answered for as long as Rickelton stays fit.
The wider context
Mumbai's playoff hopes had already moved past mathematical recovery before Wednesday's loss; six matches left, four points on the board, ninth in the table. The redemption Rickelton found at the Wankhede is therefore a personal one rather than a team one, a hundred for the seasons to come more than for this one. But MI have spent enough of IPL 2026 wondering which of their auction calls were right to want the answers wrapped up early. On Wednesday they got one.
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