5 facts: Who is Ayush Mhatre? Youngest CSK player in history blasts Mumbai Indians bowlers on IPL debut

A day after the 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals, another teenager made headlines on Sunday. 

Ayush Mhatre, at 17, became the youngest player to represent Chennai Super Kings in the tournament and made an immediate impact with the bat. The teenager made 32 from 15 balls before being dismissed by Deepak Chahar. The fans loved him as he managed something MS Dhoni's team had struggled to do all season -- score freely and fearlessly in the beginning of the innings. 

 

Ayush Mhatre, who joined CSK mid-season as the replacement of injured skipper Rituraj Gaikwad, blasted four boundaries and two sixes before being caught by Mitchell Santner while trying to go for another maximum. It was an out-of-touch Rahul Tripathi who made way for the teenager in the playing eleven. An opener by choice, Mhatre was asked to bat at number three on his first outing. However, the youngster terrorised the Mumbai Indians bowlers as he got to make most of the fielding restrictions as Rachin Ravindra (5 off 9) fell too soon.

 

 

Here are five things that you may love to know about CSK's teenage sensation. 

 

1. Mumbai's Ayush Mhatre became the youngest Yellow Lion as he washanded the debut by the MS Dhoni's team aged just 17 years and 278 days.

 

2. Ayush Mhatre has represented Mumbai in nine first-class games to date, managing two centuries and a half century. In List A games, his high score is 181 against Nagaland, followed by 148 against Saurashtra during the Vijay Hazare Trophy. The ton against Nagaland reportedly helped him break Yashasvi Jaiswal's world record of becoming the youngest player to score 150-plus in men's senior List A cricket.

 

3. In a testament of his skills young Mhatre made 458 runs at an average of 65.42 and a strike rate of 135.5 in his debut season in Vijay Hazare Trophy.

 

4. It was last year that Mhatre made his debut for the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team. The opener also made his Irani Trophy debut in 2024 against the Rest of India, reports said. However, he was yet to play a T20 game for Mumbai. Ironically, he has made his debut in the shortest format at the Wankhede Stadium against the Mumabi-based franchise!

 

5. Mhatre attended CSK's trial at Chennai and immediately impressed the people involved. Although CSK didn't go after him in the mega auctions, he got his turn when Gaikwad was ruled out for the remainder of the season as CSK scouts remembered how well the youngster had batted in the nets. 

 

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