Ayush Mhatre is destined for great things. You just need to watch him bat for a few deliveries and you'll realise the immense potential in this prodigy. Thrown into the deep sea during Chennai Super Kings' dismal IPL 2025 season, Mhatre made an instant impression, tallying 240 runs from seven games at a fantastic strike rate of 188.
It was the first impression of Mhatre to the larger public and he oozed class. By now, the 18-year-old is already a popular name in Indian cricket, especially in the domestic circuit and amongst those who follow the game deeply. However, India's U19 captain has a very strange pattern to his white-ball career so far.
In U19 cricket, Mhatre has now played 14 ODIs without a single fifty to his name. His average of 10.21 is an embarrassment, especially for someone who is touted to be one of the next superstars of India's batting department. Ironically, Mhatre has been in top form during India's domestic season, smashing two centuries during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Mhatre produced 325 runs during SMAT 2025 at a strike rate of 167 and was the third-highest six hitter in the competition with 25 maximums. During the 2024 Vijay Hazare Trophy, Mhatre was again at his fluent best, smashing 458 runs at an average of 65.43 and was once more the third-highest six hitter in India's premier 50-over domestic competition.
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Mhatre's First-class record is extremely underwhelming though, but here is the irony is that he has started off well in Youth Tests for India U19. The one thing we know that is that Mhatre is far from his peak years at this point and he is still a work in progress. Nevertheless, CSK's rising star has a huge opportunity to make a statement in 2026.
IPL 2026 will be Mhatre's second season in the tournament and this time, there will be pressure on him as compared to 2025 when he was literally unknown to most people. Failures in the U19 Asia Cup will have stung him and there is an U19 World Cup around the corner. Mhatre's needs stronger performances in white-ball cricket for India U19 to push his case stronger in the national setup.
