A 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre made MS Dhoni smirk with his effortless hitting on his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut on Sunday against Mumbai Indians. Replacing Rahul Tripathi in the playing XI, the Mumbai youngster impressed everyone with his confident batting, including own skipper MS Dhoni.
Coming to bat into the fourth over after the dismissal of Rachin Ravindra, the right-handed Mhatre started with a four off Ashwani Kumar on the first ball he faced followed by two sixes – one over the deep mid-wicket fence and another over deep square leg stand.
Watching the youngster bat with so much maturity and no fear made Dhoni smile in the dressing room, the visuals of which went viral on social media.
In his 15-ball stay in the middle, Mhatre four fours and two sixes for a quickfire 32 before being dismissed by Deepak Chahar. He also forged a 41-run stand for the second wicket with opener Shaik Rasheed (19).
Meanwhile, CSK rode on fifties from Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja to post 176/5 in 20 overs. While Dube contributed 50 runs in 32 balls, Jadeja remained not out for 53 off 35 balls to take CSK’s score past 150.
Mhatre becomes CSK’s youngest IPL debutant
Mhatre became CSK’s youngest IPL debutant at 17 years and 278 days. Before Mhatre, Abhinav Mukund held the record when he made his CSK debut at 18 years and 139 days against Rajasthan Royals in Chennai at the inaugural season of IPL.
Initially unsold at the IPL 2025 mega auction, Mhatre came into the side as a replacement player for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad who was ruled out with an elbow injury.
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