Mumbai’s 17-year-old batting sensation Ayush Mhatre on Thursday summoned for mid-season trials in Chennai, raising speculations for a potential last-minute entry into the five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Chennai Super Kings’ squad

The promising opener, who went unsold in the IPL 2025 mega-auction in November in Jeddah, can come into the Chennai squad in case of any season-ending injury to a player. As per the rules, a player can be included in an IPL squad midway through a season only in case of some player gets injured or is ruled out of the season due to other reasons.

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Mhatre travelled to Chennai from Rajkot, where he was at BCCI’s National Cricket Academy’s zonal camp for U-19 players.

The franchise had asked Mhatre to report for trials in November as well, just before the IPL 2025 mega-auction. The youngster was last seen in action in February, during Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy semifinal against Vidarbha in Nagpur, where he scored just nine and 18 runs in the two innings.

Mhatre was Mumbai’s fourth-highest run-scorer in the Ranji Trophy, with 471 runs in eight matches with two hundreds to his name. He also scored a match-winning century against Saurashtra in a group game in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in January, finishing as Mumbai’s highest run-scorer in the tournament, with 458 runs in seven matches at a stunning average of 65.42.

While the teenager is yet to feature in a T20 for Mumbai, his batting abilities have impressed the CSK scouts, leading to his call-up for the trials.

After winning the season opener against Mumbai Indians at home, the Chennai Super Kings lost two consecutive matches and are currently languishing at the seventh spot in the IPL 2025 points table.