India's U19 World Cup 2026 captain Ayush Mhatre scores back-to-back centuries in SMAT 2025, makes run chase look easy

India's Under-19 World Cup 2026 captain and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Ayush Mhatre scored his second consecutive century in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025. Opening for Mumbai, Mhatre made the run chase against Andhra Pradesh look like a cakewalk in Lucknow. Mumbai registered their third consecutive win, beating Ricky Bhui's Andhra Pradesh by nine wickets with 29 balls to spare.

In the run chase of 160, Mhatre hit a six off the first over of the innings. Not a single four came off the bat in the powerplay overs. Prithvi Raj broke the opening partnership in the sixth over with Ajinkya Rahane's wicket. Rahane scored 18 runs from 12 balls, including two sixes. Mhatre continued to target Cheepurapalli Stephen, hitting him for two sixes and a four. He reached his fifty from 33 balls.

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India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav played second fiddle to 18-year-old Mhatre. At the halfway stage, Mumbai were 95/1. In the 14th over, Mhatre hit Satyanarayana Raju for a four and three sixes. Raju played a couple of games for Mumbai Indians (MI) in the previous Indian Premier League (IPL) season. In the 16th over, Mhatre hit a four to get to his century from 58 balls. Then, he hit another boundary to finish off the run chase.

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The young opener's unbeaten 104 off 59 deliveries feature five fours and nine sixes. On the other end, Suryakumar remained unbeaten for a 21-ball 31 laced with a four and three sixes.

Deshpande’s early strikes

Earlier, Tushar Deshpande struck thrice with the new ball. Skipper Bhui's 40-ball 48 and Singupuram Prasad's unbeaten 32-ball 44 helped Andhra Pradesh post a respectable total of 159//7. While Deshpande claimed three wickets for 25 runs, Sairaj Patil took two as well. However, Patil was expensive as he conceded 24 runs from two overs.

Mhatre’s purple patch

In the previous game, After an 18-run knock against Railways, Mhatre scored an unbeaten 53-ball 110 in the run chase of 193 against Harsh Dubey-led Vidarbha. Currently, Mhatre is the leading run-scorer. He has scored 232 runs from three innings at a strike rate of 182.67.