IPL 2025: Who is Ayush Mhatre, the player who replaced Ruturaj Gaikwad in CSK?

IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have roped in Ayush Mhatre as a replacement for the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad for the rest of IPL 2025. Gaikwad sustained an elbow injury before the match against KKR on April 11. In his absence, MS Dhoni will lead the side for the remaining matches.

Talking about Ayush Mhatre, the 17-year-old made his debut in the 2024-25 Irani Cup. A few days after his debut, Mhatre smashed a century against Maharashtra in the 2024 Ranji Trophy, scoring 176 runs. With this, he became the youngest batter to score 150+ runs in the List A men's category, surpassing Yashasvi Jaiswal. Mhatre has emerged to be the next big thing in Indian List A cricket; he has scored 458 runs at an average of 65.78 in seven matches.

Initially, during the IPL 2025 mega auctions, Ayush went unsold at a base price of INR 30 lakhs. The player has now been asked to join the CSK squad immediately. It would be important to see whether the player will get to play against LSG on April 14.

CSK in IPL 2025 so far

CSK's performance in the ongoing IPL season has been miserable; the team has five matches on the trot and is currently sitting in the last position in the overall standings. The team has only one win on their side that came against the Mumbai Indians.

Chennai Super Kings' head coach Stephen Fleming has pointed out flaws in fielding efforts that have cost them matches. However, their performance with the bat in the last match against KKR looked out of form. The team only managed to score 103/9 in 20 overs after kneeling in front of KKR spinners. CSK now needs to ensure that they win all their remaining matches to stay in contention of qualifying for the play-offs.