17-year-old Mumbai batter Ayush Mhatre is all set to replace Ruturaj Gaikwad in Chennai Super Kings’ IPL 2025 squad. According to a report in Cricbuzz on Sunday (April 14), the right-handed batter, who made his first-class debut for Mumbai against Rest of India during the 2024 Irani Cup match played in Lucknow on October 1, 2024, will join the Chennai-based franchise in a couple of days. “He will join the squad in Mumbai in a couple of days,” a source close to CSK management was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. According to the report, the five-time champions took the decision late on Saturday. “He has been asked to join the franchise immediately, but the earliest he can link up with the MS Dhoni-led squad is only a couple of days later. Mhatre, with a base price of Rs 30 lakh, was unsold in the auction,” Cricbuzz reported. “The CSK nod came after the franchise called Mahtre to Chennai for trials along with a couple of others – Urvil Patel of Gujarat and Salman Nizar of Uttar Pradesh. Prithvi Shaw, out of favour with the IPL teams currently, was also in the reckoning, but the team is understood to have picked Mahtre as a replacement for Gaikwad,” the report added. Mhatre has played nine first-class and seven List A matches since making his domestic debut last year. He has scored two centuries in red-ball cricket and two centuries in the 50-over format of the game. In his last List A match for Mumbai, the teenager scored 148 runs against Saurashtra and also picked up one wicket for 33 runs in his quota of seven overs. Rutu out due to elbow injury Chennai Super Kings Ruturaj was ruled out of the remainder of IPL 2025 on Thursday (April 10) due to an elbow injury that he suffered while playing for CSK against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on March 30. In his absence, MS Dhoni was appointed as Chennai Super Kings captain, and the 43-year-old wicketkeeper-batter led the franchise in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders at MA Chidambaram Stadium on April 11, but in that CSK could only manage to score 103 runs after being invited to bat first and then went on to lose the match by 8 wickets.