Chennai Super Kings’ 17-year-old debutant Ayush Mhatre impressed everyone with his fiery knock during the IPL 2025 encounter against Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Mhatre, who became the youngest cricketer to play for CSK, scored 32 off 15 deliveries with 4 fours and 2 sixes. The innings included a four and two sixes off three consecutive balls against Mumbai Indians pacer Ashwani Kumar. Mhatre slammed a boundary on the fourth delivery of the fourth over and then followed it up with a big six over deep mid-wicket. On the final ball, he once again attacked Ashwani and pulled it over deep square leg for a six.
How about that for a start
Ayush Mhatre’s #TATAIPL career is up and away in some fashion#CSK 52/1 after 6 overs.
Updates https://t.co/v2k7Y5sIdi#MIvCSK | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/UVvmdWotvY
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 20, 2025
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first against Chennai Super Kings in Match 38 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday.
A day after the Rajasthan Royals handed a debut to 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Chennai Super Kings sprung a surprise by handing his first cap to 17-year-old Mumbai Ranji player Ayush Mhatre. Mhatre, who came in place of Rahul Tripathi, has become the youngest player ever to play for CSK.
Mumbai also made a change, bringing in Ashwani Kumar into the playing XI from the substitutes bench.
With two of the three games played at the Wankhede Stadium so far this season won by the chasers, it was no surprise that Hardik Pandya opted to follow the same pattern.
Pandya said the track looks good and felt it could get a bit sticky initially, which will give them a chance to assess the track. “We just need to keep playing good cricket and executing plans, keeping it simple,” said Pandya when asked about their plans for making it to the playoffs.
“It’s exciting that we’ve not played to our best potential, that gives us encouragement to come on and put on our best team every game. The man behind me as well [Dhoni], everyone is excited when he comes. MI vs CSK is always exciting. So, look forward to today,” said Pandya.
CSK captain MS Dhoni said they too would have bowled first. “You have to play bold cricket, but at the same time, when you tell someone to go play their shots, it’s important for the batsman to know what his shots are. Similarly, for bowlers. So there are quite a few things to keep in mind in either department. But it’s important to let players express themselves,” said Dhoni about what they need to revive their campaign as they try to recover from the five losses in a row they have suffered so far this season.
Dhoni said that they need to work on their catching, but added that they haven’t played very well, so they need to improve in all departments of the game.
(With IANS inputs)
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