Bengaluru, May 4 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) head coach Stephen Fleming has revealed what impressed him the most about Ayush Mhatre after the 17-year-old turned out to be the biggest positive in the franchise's one of the toughest IPL campaigns.
CSK, who are already knocked out of the IPL 2025 playoffs race, fell to a narrow two-run loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday night, despite Mhatre's impressive knock of 94 off 48 balls, which made him a the third player to score a fifty in the IPL at 17 years and 292 days.
After the match, Fleming was full of praise for the right-hander and said Mhatre's temperament and composure are something that impressed him a lot.
"It's sometimes hard to explain, but there's just a quality around what he was doing. But his composure was something that impressed me. He's got talent, he's got hand-eye coordination, he's got a beautiful silky swing. He's aggressive, everything that we like about a modern-day T20 player. But to me it's the temperament and being able to execute in a trial and then on the big stage. So that's what I'm most impressed with." Fleming said in the post-match presentation.
"We have a pretty relaxed camp, which has always been our style. He has some teammates on the side... (Shivam) Dube is one who has seen a fair bit of him. Again, it comes back to his maturity. He fitted in seamlessly. It's often not what the team around him does, but it's just the way that he behaves. He was very comfortable right from day one. The team was very comfortable with him. Hopefully, it's the start of a long relationship," he added.
Mhatre joined CSK as a replacement for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was sidelined five matches into the season due to an elbow injury. He made his T20 debut in the match against the Mumbai Indians (MI), scoring 32 runs off 15 balls. He followed it up with a quick 30 off 19 deliveries against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
On Saturday in Bengaluru, Mhatre took down statistically the IPL's best powerplay bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, for 26 runs in an over, hitting five fours and a six.
A week ago in Jaipur, Rajasthan Royals' 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scripted history with a 35-ball century, which is the fastest by an Indian player in the IPL and the second-fastest of all time. Fleming further shed light on the surge of teenage prodigies, and said, "It's extraordinary to watch that fearless approach. But you've got to have skills as well, and to have the skills that these young players have - and to be able to execute them against some of the best bowlers in the world, is quite remarkable."
"It doesn't matter whether you're 14, 18, 21. The innings that we've seen be played, particularly by these two youngsters, is just top class. It shows maturity beyond their years. But it shows a skill set that is quite daunting," he said.
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