India U19 captain Ayush Mhatre slams century on first day of Youth Test against England U19

After the successful Youth ODI series against the hosts England U19, India U19 started the Youth Test series strongly, courtesy of a strong century by the captain Ayush Mhatre. 

While India U19 won the Youth ODI series by 3-2 in the ongoing England tour, the visitors are now busy in the two-match Youth Test series against the hosts, starting on Saturday (July 12). After India U19 captain Ayush Mhatre chose to bat first, the stunning youth opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi fell early by scoring only 14 runs after 13 balls with three fours. 

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India U19 captain Ayush Mhatre scored century

However, captain Ayush Mhatre, the other opener, took the responsibility to set up a strong base along with the no.3 batter Vihaan Malhotra. They had a 173-run partnership for the second wicket, where both batters impressed. The India U19 skipper batted superbly and slammed a 107-ball century. He scored 102 runs off 115 balls with 14 fours and two sixes before Archie Vaughan, the former English captain Michael Vaughan's son, dismissed him. 

At the stumps on the first day of the four-day match, India U19 scored 450/7. Vihaan Malhotra scored 67 runs, while the middle-order batters Abhigyan Kundu and Rahul Kumar scored 90 and 85 runs, respectively. 

Who is Ayush Mhatre?

The 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre has already made his IPL debut in the last season. Serving for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as a replacement for the injured Ruturaj Gaikwad, Mhatre scored 240 runs in seven innings with an average of 34.28 and a strike rate of 188.97. Despite playing only half the matches of the season for his team, he finished as the third leading run-scorer for his team this season. Apart from scoring 94 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, he also played crucial knocks of 32, 30, 43, and 34 against Mumbai Indians, SunRisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals, and Gujarat Titans, respectively, in the IPL 2025. 

Last December, Mhatre set a world record by becoming the youngest player to score 150+ runs in List A cricket history (17 years and 168 days). He has already played nine first-class matches and seven List A games, and he has hit two centuries in each format, apart from one more half-century. While his highest List A score is 181 runs, his batting average in this format is 65.42.