At a time when the season has not gone well for Chennai Super Kings who are eliminated from this season of the Indian Premier League, Ayush Mhatre comes like a whiff of fresh air to an ageing side.
Drafted as a replacement for injured skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ayush has shown lot of promise and has a bright future in CSK. The 17-year-old showed his true potential while scoring 94 off 48 balls against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, Bengaluru.
After the likes of Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda, and Vijay Shankar failed to make an impact, CSK batting coach Mike Hussey had insisted that youngsters will be tried and given a long rope. Thus, players like Shaik Rasheed and Ayush got regular places at the top of the order. However, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming was the one most impressed by Ayush’s stroke-making ability and temperament in the slam-bang version of the game. Incidentally, Ayush is the third-youngest player to score an IPL fifty at the age of 17 years and 291 days off 25 balls.
Stephen insisted that Ayush had all the skill sets to become a quality batter in T20 cricket. He was also impressed with the youngsters ability to handle pressure. “He’s (Ayush) got talent. He’s got hand-eye coordination. He’s got a beautiful, silky swing. He’s aggressive. Everything that we like about a modern-day T20 player. But, to me, it’s the temperament and being able to execute in a trial and then on the big stage. That’s what I’m most impressed with,” he said.
“It’s one thing to have a lot of shots, but to be able to execute that game plan on a big stage in front of some of the biggest players in the world is what I admire,” added the former New Zealand captain.
Ayush has fit in seamlessly into the Chennai Super Kings team. “We have a pretty relaxed camp, which has always been our style. He has some teammates (from Mumbai) on the side. Shivam Dube is one who has seen a fair bit of him. Again, it comes back to his maturity. He fitted in seamlessly. It’s often not what the team around him does, but it’s just the way that he behaves,” shared Stephen.
In four matches thus far in IPL 2025, Ayush has scored 163 runs at an average of 40.75 and a strike-rate of 185.22. A former India player from Mumbai, who is part of the support staff of another team, had this to say about Ayush and other youngsters from Mumbai. “Mhatre was impressive for his age and played as a replacement for Ruturaj. The quality of the IPL is really good, and it is not easy for someone to fit in just like that. But I guess Mhatre and other players play a lot of ‘maidan’ cricket in the various grounds in the city. Out there, one has to play attacking cricket from the word go. From there, when they start playing representative cricket at various levels for Mumbai, that attacking instinct remains,” pointed out the former India cricketer, who did not wish to be named.
At CSK, in the future, Ayush’s game is bound to improve as he has the likes of Stephen Fleming, Mike Hussey and the legendary MS Dhoni to guide him.