Ayush Mhatre: Flourishing among seniors, finding his way among peers

India U19 captain Ayush Mhatre’s World Cup began with two contrasting starts, but neither of them transformed into something majestic. Against the USA in India’s campaign opener at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, the 19-year-old looked in rhythm early, caressing a sumptuous drive down the ground - his first of four boundaries in a fluent 19 off 19 before he got late onto a hook and was caught at fine leg. 

When he walked out against Bangladesh on Saturday, he struggled for fluency, scoring 6 off 12 that ended before it could take shape. Two outings, two different beginnings, but the same theme: flashes of promise but nothing substantial enough for the team to build upon.

Soaring among seniors with returns that place him ahead of his years

Yet this stuttering youth‑level start sits oddly against the body of work he has already put together when the stage is bigger and the opposition filled with experienced campaigners. 

Ayush has consistently found a way to rise when the ceiling has been higher. His stats at the senior level don’t read like those of a teenager learning the ropes; they read like those of someone already fluent in the tempo of top‑grade cricket. In T20s, he has aggregated 565 runs in 13 games at an average of 56.50 and a strike rate of 175.46, laced with two hundreds and two fifties. 

His List A returns are just as emphatic: 459 runs in seven innings at 65.42, striking at 135.50, with two centuries and a fifty. What underlines these performances is the composure behind them. 

Ayush rarely looks rushed, rarely looks like he’s borrowing time from the game. His knocks at the senior level reflect as if he belongs, and his numbers showcase that certainty. 

He is the youngest player (18 years and 135 days) to score hundreds across first‑class, List A, and T20 cricket, breaking Rohit Sharma’s record (19 years and 339 days) in the process. He is the youngest half‑centurion for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL, the third‑youngest to score a first‑class hundred for Mumbai behind only Sachin Tendulkar and Prithvi Shaw, and one of the youngest ever to register both a T20 hundred and a 150‑plus List A score. 

These achievements don’t just hint at a high ceiling; they show a player who consistently meets it when the level around him climbs.

Seeking the same conviction when the field narrows to his own age group

However, that same assurance seems to vanish the moment he returns to his own age group. In 16 youth ODIs, Mhatre has managed just 168 runs at an average of 10.5 and a strike rate of 83, a stretch that includes two ducks and very few innings of real substance. 

Even in the 2025 U19 Asia Cup, a tournament where many of his peers used the stage to announce themselves, Mhatre finished with 65 runs in five games, averaging 13 while striking at 112.06. The intent was visible, the strokeplay occasionally crisp, but the innings never resembled the composure he routinely shows in senior cricket.

It creates a paradox that is hard to ignore. Most young players struggle when they advance to the next level, but Ayush is encountering the same difficulty level in his own age group, at least at the moment. As the gap between his senior and youth numbers widens, the question becomes harder to brush aside: Is the India badge weighing heavier on him than the level above it ever has?