Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 2026: Match 1, KBB vs GBM Match Prediction – Who will win today’s match between KBB vs GBM?

The 2026 Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 kicks off with the Kalyani Bengaluru Blasters (BB) taking on the Gulbarga Mystics (GM) in Match 1 at the Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadeyar Ground in Mysore on Saturday, June 20. Both sides qualified for the playoffs last time around and will be hoping to do one better this season.

BB come into the tournament after suffering defeat at the hands of the eventual champions, the Coastal Kings Mangaluru. They did, however, defeat GM in the Eliminator, beating them by eight wickets after chasing down a mere 123 in less than 13 overs.

The Mystics, meanwhile, did finish the league phase above their opponents from Saturday. They secured 12 points last season, compared to BB's 10.

The entire 2025 Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 was played at the Srikantadatta Narasimha Raja Wadeyar Ground in Mysore. The ground saw all kinds of games, including matches where the scores exceeded 200, low-scoring thrillers and a few one-sided run-chases. The pitch offers assistance to both batters and bowlers, with the unpredictable Karnataka weather being the only cause for concern.

Rohan Patil, Krishnan Shrijith (WK), Rohan Naveen, S Shivaraj, Samit Dravid, Bhuvan Mohan Raju, Praveen Dubey, Shubhang Hegde (C), Vidhwath Kaverappa, MB Darshan, and Nischith N Rao.

Prakhar Chaturvedi, Sharath BR (WK), Manish Pandey (C), Dhruv Prabhakar, Lochan Gowda, Macneil Noronha, Aaditya Nair, Paras Gurbax Arya, Ronit More, Gautam Mishra, and Suhas Purushotham.

Manish Pandey is the talisman for the Gulbarga Mystics, with high hopes placed on his shoulders to have a good season. The right-handed batter comes into the tournament on the back of decent contributions in the limited game time that he received in the 2026 Indian Premier League, representing the Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Blasters captain, Shubhang Hegde, was one of the tournament's best bowlers last season. The 25-year-old took 16 wickets from 12 matches at a brilliant economy rate of just 5.91. He will be hoping for a repeat this season to help his side get to the latter stages of the competition.