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17-year-old, dropped despite a century for Rohit Sharma's inclusion in Mumbai XI, shares special message for IND captain

Jan 25, 2025 11:02 AM IST

Ayush Mhatre was on cloud nine after sharing the dressing room with his idol Rohit Sharma and called it an unreal moment.

Ayush Mhatre, a 17-year-old batting sensation from Mumbai, shared a heartwarming note for his idol Rohit Sharma, who replaced him in the Ranji Trophy playing XI against Jammu and Kashmir. Mhatre had an incredible start to his first-class career, scoring 441 runs in 6 matches at an impressive average of 40.09. At a young age, he showed good consistency in the initial matches of his domestic cricket, but he had to make way for Indian Test captain Rohit, who made his Ranji return to regain some form.

Ayush Mhatre shares a heartwarming note for Rohit Sharma.(Instagram/@ayush_m255)
Ayush Mhatre shares a heartwarming note for Rohit Sharma.(Instagram/@ayush_m255)

Mhatre was on cloud nine after sharing the dressing room with his idol Rohit and called it an unreal moment.

"Started playing cricket by watching him bat on television to sharing a dressing room with my idol was such an unreal moment. Lots of learning to take forward," Mhatre wrote on Instagram.

In the last Ranji Trophy match against Services, Mhatre slammed 116 runs in Mumbai's big win.

The 17-year-old made his List A debut last year and slammed 458 runs so far at an astonishing average of 65.42 which included two centuries and a fifty.

Meanwhile, Rohit endured a tough red-ball season where he struggled against New Zealand at home and Australia Down Under.

Rohit Sharma flops on Ranji return

Playing his first game for Mumbai in domestic red-ball cricket in nearly a decade, Rohit's first day on the field was a disaster, with the 37-year-old falling for a 19-ball 3 in the opening hour of the Ranji Trophy clash against Jammu Kashmir.

But on Friday, Rohit gave a far better account of himself to notch up a fluent 28, his best in first-class cricket since a 52 in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand last year.

It indeed has been that long for Rohit, who has since scored 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, 3 and 9 in subsequent outings against New Zealand and Australia.

Rohit's innings was marked with flashes of brilliance as well as misses but some of the strokes he played -- twice he lifted Jammu and Kashmir pacers over their head for sixes -- showed the promise of the Indian Test and ODI captain rediscovering his long lost form.

It will be interesting to see whether Rohit will return to action in Mumbai's next Ranji match against Meghalaya starting January 30.

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ICC Champions Trophy , ICC Champions Trophy Schedule , and Champions Trophy 2025 Points Table – stay ahead with real-time match updates, team standings, and insights. Check live cricket score , player stats, and ICC rankings of top players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli . Get expert analysis, match previews, and in-depth coverage of ICC CT 2025, IPL 2025 Schedule and IPL 2025, all on HT Crickit, powered by Hindustan Times – your trusted source for cricket news.
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