17-Year-Old Batter Dropped Despite Century for Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai XI Spot, Shares Special Message

The 17-year-old batting prodigy from Mumbai, Ayush Mhatre, posted an endearing note for his idol and the man who replaced him in the Ranji Trophy playing XI against Jammu and Kashmir, Rohit Sharma. Beginning his first-class career in splendid style, Mhatre took no time in exhibiting his prowess by accumulating 441 runs in 6 matches, with an impressive average of 40.09. He had performed quite well until the initial stages of his domestic career, being replaced by Indian Test captain Rohit, who had returned to Ranji matches to find his footing again after a difficult phase against both New Zealand and Australia.

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Mhatre was on cloud nine as he got to share the dressing room with his idol, Rohit, which was nothing short of unreal.

"Started playing cricket by watching him bat on television to sharing a dressing room with my idol was such an unreal moment. Lots of learning to take forward," Mhatre wrote on Instagram.

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A post shared by Ayush Mhatre (@ayush_m255)

In the last Ranji Trophy game against Services, sent in to open, he smashed 116 runs in Mumbai's big-time victory.

The 17-year-old made his List A debut last year and has scored 458 runs so far at an astonishing average of 65.42, including two centuries and a fifty.

Meanwhile, Rohit had a difficult red-ball season where he struggled against New Zealand at home and Australia Down Under.

Making his debut for Mumbai in domestic red-ball cricket after almost a decade, Rohit's first day on the field was disastrous as the 37-year-old fell for 3 runs off 19 balls in the opening hour of the Ranji Trophy clash against Jammu Kashmir.

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But on Friday, Rohit gave a good account of himself, making a fluent 28, in his first first-class innings since a second-innings 52 in the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand last year.

It has indeed been that long for Rohit, who has since scored 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, 3, and 9 in subsequent outings against New Zealand and Australia.

While flashes of brilliance were interspersed with streaks of failures in his innings, many strokes described -- two sixes hit over the J&K pacers' heads -- suggested that Indian Test and ODI captain might just be getting back to his long-lost form.

It shall be interesting to see whether Rohit returns to action in the next Ranji match starting January 30 against Meghalaya.

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