Former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has shed light on the Mumbai Indians’ selection conundrum ahead of IPL 2026. Singh reckons the five-time champions won’t be able to play the South African left-handed pair of Quinton de Kock and Ryan Rickelton together in the playing XI.

The Turbanator said either Quinton de Kock or Ryan Rickelton will open the innings with Rohit Sharma. Ryan Rickelton recently scored 228 runs in eight matches of the T20 World Cup 2026 at an average of 32.57 and a strike rate of 170.15.

On the other hand, Quinton de Kock scored 181 runs in eight matches of the T20I showpiece at an average of 22.62 and a strike rate of 135.07.

“I don’t think they will start with both of them together. I think it will be either Ryan Rickelton playing or De Kock playing. Either of these two guys will feature in the XI. Playing these two guys in the top order will be difficult because Mumbai have a lot of local players like Rohit Sharma,” Harbhajan Singh said on Star Sports.

Singh added MI won’t be able to accommodate the Proteas pair as Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma will bat in the top four.

“He (Rohit) will have to open, of course, with either Ryan Rickelton or De Kock, and then Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and many other good players are there. So I don’t think we will see them playing together,” Harbhajan observed.

The former MI spinner said the franchise will prefer Ghazanfar ahead of Mitchell Santner as the former brings a lot of variations to the table.

“As far as I know and what my knowledge says, I think we will get to see Ghazanfar playing most of the games than Santner because Ghazanfar brings a lot of variations to the table,” he responded.

Mumbai Indians will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on 29th March.