CSK sign 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre as replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have called up 17-year-old Mumbai opener Ayush Mhatre for trials ahead of the IPL 2025 season. Mhatre, who has recently made his first-class debut for Mumbai, has impressed with a standout innings of 176 runs against Maharashtra. His performances have caught the attention of CSK's management and former captain MS Dhoni. "He will join the squad in Mumbai in a couple of days," a source close to CSK management told . The CSK team is currently in Lucknow for their seventh game, which will be played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium on Monday night. Currently CSK have one win and two points, having suffered five losses on the trot. They play Mumbai Indians in Mumbai on April 20 at the Wankhede. The CSK nod came after the franchise called Mhatre to Chennai for trials along with a couple of others - Urvil Patel of Gujarat and Salman Nizar of Kerala. Prithvi Shaw, out of favour with the IPL teams currently, was also in the reckoning but the team is understood to have picked Mhatre as a replacement for Gaikwad. The 17-year old Mhatre is highly regarded in Mumbai's cricketing circles. In nine first-class matches, he has amassed 504 runs, including two centuries and a fifty. In seven List A games, he has already scored 458 runs, with two hundreds to his name. He debuted in first class cricket last October and many experts in Mumbai believe that he is an India material.