Mumbai: Whether India’s World Cup champions are ready to roll all over again for another two-month T20 extravaganza in peak physical and mental shape will be known in the coming days when the Mumbai Indians play their IPL 2026 opener against the Kolkata Knight Riders. It will be a good indicator since the core of India’s T20 best players is in that squad.
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya, who swap leadership bands from country to club, both had a decent batting net on Friday. Tilak Varma, young and learning, sweated it out too. Jasprit Bumrah joined the squad late and rested through the pre-match training session on Saturday.
For once, with the ICC T20 World Cup slotted ahead of the IPL, coaches widely accept that players’ bodies will take time to repair and recharge. With the Indian players, having achieved their dream to win a world title at home after months of buildup, there is the small matter of overcoming the mental high too.
“It was great to see that intensity, I mean it’s a World Cup, it’s the best stage in the world, that adrenaline is something that’s difficult to match,” said MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene. “Hence we gave them an extended period to take a break, spend some time with family and then come back fresh.”
Unlike Indians, the punishing cricket calendar has meant some overseas players have been playing international cricket straight after the World Cup. Mitchell Santner played three T20Is at home against South Africa and will miss the early IPL matches for MI. So will England all-rounder Will Jacks. Jayawardene attributed the duo’s absence to “personal reasons”, adding the team understood their request to join late.
The constant push and pull for player availability is evident from the growing list of overseas players who will miss early action in this year’s IPL. England’s Ben Duckett has pulled out of Delhi Capitals’ duties to recharge batteries for future England endeavors. Sri Lanka Cricket has introduced fitness tests for its players to secure no-objection certificates. Nuwan Thushara failed a fitness test and was denied a chance to join RCB. KKR awaits clearance for their priced bowling buy Matheesha Pathirana, who is returning from injury rehab.
“When there’s an ICC event in the lead up to an IPL, the players of course, are putting it all on the line, even if they’re playing with injuries because they want to give themselves a chance of winning a T20 World Cup,” said Shane Watson, KKR assistant coach. “And just knowing how much international cricket is around provides a lot of different challenges. That’s the flexibility that you (as teams) need to have to be able to pivot.”
