The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have appointed young Mumbai opener Ayush Mhatre in place of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who will be out for the rest of the IPL season with a fractured elbow.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have appointed 17-year-old Mumbai opener Ayush Mhatre as a substitute for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who will be out of action for the remainder of the 2025 IPL season because of a fractured elbow.

The CSK skipper sustained a fractured elbow and was eliminated for the rest of the season of IPL following the injury. The incident made management give over the captaincy to legendary player MS Dhoni, but the team still lacked an extra batsman to compensate for Gaikwad. Following a trial that lasted for two weeks and proved successful, the CSK management made a decision to provide Mhatre with an IPL contract for the rest of the season.

The five-time IPL champions, who are presently rock bottom of the points table with only one victory in six matches, announced this on Sunday, April 13.

Mhatre, who was not sold in the auction for a base price of Rs 30 lakh, was requested to report to the squad immediately. Yet, he will report to the MS Dhoni-led side in a matter of days.

"He will report to the squad in Mumbai within a few days," a CSK management close source revealed. The squad is in Lucknow for its seventh game, which takes place on Monday evening at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium.

Mhatre was picked following trial games in Chennai, when he had played against Gujarat's Urvil Patel and Kerala's Salman Nizar. Prithvi Shaw, a former Indian U-19 captain, was also in the running, but the franchise decided to go with the Mumbai youngster.

At his young age, Mhatre impressed in domestic cricket, amassing 504 runs in nine first-class matches, including two centuries and one half-century. In List A cricket, he scored 458 runs in seven games, including two centuries. He debuted in first-class cricket in October 2024 and is regarded as a promising prospect.