Follow UsAt the age of 17 years and 278 days, Ayush Mhatre became the youngest ever player to play for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He ensured that it would not be his only achievement today as he went after the Mumbai Indians (MI) bowling right from the start.
He got off the mark off his very first delivery from Ashwani Kumar, who had dismissed Rachin Ravindra off the previous delivery.
When he got the strike back later in the over, he smashed his first boundary, beautifully driven down the ground. The next one, perhaps the best of the lot, was a nonchalant flick over the long-on fence, and he then followed that up with an explosive pull over the deep square-leg fence.
Mhatre scored 17 from his first four deliveries and announced himself at the big stage. He was not done, as he took on Deepak Chahar as well, flat batting it over the bowler to collect another boundary.
He collected a couple of boundaries of Chahar's next over too, but holed out at long-on off on the penultimate ball of his spell.
Mhatre, in his maiden IPL knock, scored four fours and a couple of sixes to induce some momentum into the CSK innings. He had big shoes to fill as well, as he replaced CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad in the squad after the latter was ruled out due to an elbow injury.