On October 12, the three journalists present at the Baroda Cricket Association’s stadium on the outskirts of Vadodara, asked for an interaction to be facilitated with Ayush Mhatre, the rookie opener who scored a fifty in his maiden Ranji Trophy outing, on an otherwise disappointing day for Mumbai.
Captain Ajinkya Rahane politely declined. “Only after he scores a hundred,” Rahane said.
Cut to Friday at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy Ground, Mhatre – despite batting for well over three hours in hot and humid conditions – quickly changed from whites and stepped out on to the ground for a chat with a larger media contingent.
“It feels great. The last month or so has been surreal, am still trying to make peace with how quickly things have unfolded but I am confident about my abilities and very happy that I have managed to improve my performance with every passing opportunity and help the team out,” Mhatre said.
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At 17, Mhatre was supposed to lead Mumbai’s Under-19 squad this season. But sensing his prodigious talent – the amount of time he has before playing a shot besides an array of strokes being his key strength – the Mumbai selectors tried him out in the pre-season tournament in Karnataka.
He scored a big hundred against Gujarat and owing to Musheer Khan’s freak accident, found himself making his First Class debut in the Irani Cup. Having played out the new ball against Mukesh Kumar and Prasidh Krishna and then marking his Ranji debut with a fifty, a hundred on Friday has underlined Mhatre’s talent.
The fact that he drove with panache, pulled with elan, charged down the pitch off spinners and flicked pacers at will indicated there is more to Mhatre than just the daily struggle of commuting to south Mumbai in a local train for two hours from Virar, a far-off western suburb.
The bond between Virar boys – with his opening partner Prithvi Shaw also hailing from the same town – is so strong that Shaw proudly introduced Mhatre to Abhimanyu Easwaran – then Rest of India vice-captain – as “another Virar boy” on the eve of the Irani Cup tie.
Mhatre, the teenager with a stubble, doesn’t treat his daily commute over the years as a “struggle”. “Playing cricket is my passion, so whatever I have to do in quest of improving myself as a cricketer can never be a struggle, it’s a challenge and a journey. And I am enjoying it,” he said.
If Mhatre continues to enjoy himself at the crease with such comfort, it will result in a forgettable ride for many bowlers in the years to follow!
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