Ayush Mhatre: Meet the U-19 India captain who made heads turn in the IPL

It will be a test of India’s reserves of talent in the junior and the senior categories in England in June–July when Ayush Mhatre — the precocious 17-year-old talent who had a sparkling IPL debut for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025 — will be leading the Under-19 India team there for an all-format tour.

The squad named on Thursday, 22 May, also has Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the teenager from Bihar and the Rajasthan Royals, who became the talk of IPL with a 35-ball century.

The tour will see the Indian colts play their England counterparts in a 50-over warm-up match, a five-match youth one-day series and two multi-day matches. Their tour coincides with the highly billed five-Test series for India against England, beginning in Leeds on 20 June, while the Abhimanyu Eashwaran-led India A will be featuring in three games against the England Lions in the early part of June.

The U-19 captain’s role puts Ayush in the company of some of the most precocious talents Indian cricket had thrown up in the new millennium – starting from the iconic Virat Kohli, Unmukt Chand, Ishan Kishan and Prithvi Shaw.

Not all of them had gone on to live up to their early promise but the boy from Virar has shown an uncanny similarity to Yashasvi Jaiswal in the 2024-25 season — raking up 504 on debut for Mumbai in red ball cricket and then grabbing the opportunity with both hands when the CSKs signed him on as a replacement for their injured captain Ruturaj Gaikwad midway in the season.   

While the yellow shirts had an eminently forgettable run, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the team management decided to pitch him at the crucial No.3 spot with an eye towards the next two years of the cycle. Ayush did not disappoint, coming out all guns blazing after earning his cap against Mumbai Indians with a 15-ball 32 at a strike rate of 213.33 albeit in a losing cause. The classy 94 that followed against yet another quality attack of Royal Challengers Bangalore showed he had been one of the few silver linings for the five-time champions.

 A tally of 206 from six matches may not look that exceptional on paper but someone like TV pundit Ravi Shastri penned him down as one of the most exciting new talents of the season. ‘’I think Ayush Mhatre has got a future. When I look at him, some of the shots he played, I think this guy, if handled properly and is with the right kind of people, he is someone who can go a long way,’’ the former India head coach said.

The trappings of instant fame have started to roll Ayush’s way as midway in the IPL season, he was signed up by Baseline Ventures — one of the leading sports management companies who have the likes of Jaiswal and Smriti Mandhana on their rolls. ‘’17 years 293 days. And already playing with the poise of a pro and the promise of a prodigy,’’ the company said on their social media handles.

 Mhatre’s meteoric rise, meanwhile, is no accident. He first made his mark in the India Under-19 set-up with three appearances in the 2024 Asia Cup, but it was on the domestic circuit where he truly turned heads. A century (176) on debut in the Irani Cup against a Maharashtra side led by Gaikwad was followed by a gritty 52 on a turning track in Vadodara.

In nine first-class games so far, he has two centuries in his aggregate of 504 — which perhaps reflects Ayush’s hunger for the big scores. His List A record is even more striking: 458 runs in seven innings at an average of 65.42 and a strike rate of 135.50. His record-breaking 150-plus against Nagaland made him the youngest to do so in men’s senior List A cricket, surpassing Yashasvi Jaiswal’s milestone.

It's a job well begun for Ayush — but he still has miles to go!

India U-19 squad: Ayush Mhatre (capt), Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Vihaan Malhotra, Maulyarajsinh Chavda, Rahul Kumar, Abhigyan Kundu (vice-capt, wk), Harvansh Pangalia (wk), RS Ambrish, Kanishk Chouhan, Khilan Patel, Henil Patel, Yudhajit Guha, Pranav Raghavendra, Mohamed Enaan, Aditya Rana, Anmoljeet Singh.