The Indian Premier League have officially announced that the Chennai Super Kings will replace their skipper, Ruturaj Gaikwad, with the young batting talent from Mumbai, Ayush Mhatre, for the remainder of the 2025 season. Gaikwad was officially ruled out last week with the Chennai skipper, picking up an injury to his elbow which has effectively ruled him out of the remainder of the campaign. Mhatre was already a part of the CSK setup when he was part of the trials ahead of this season. Mhatre has played 9 First-Class matches and 7 List A games and has scored close to 962 runs from the same. The right-handed batter, who represents Mumbai in Domestic Cricket, joins CSK for INR 30 Lakh. He has a top score of 181, which came in Mumbai’s Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Nagaland, coming in as the opening batter, hitting 15 boundaries and 11 maximums in the process. His addition will be a big boost for the five-time champions who have been struggling to find form, especially amongst the top order. With Gaikwad’s absence, the experienced opening pair of Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra have failed to fire, resulting in the side picking up four losses in a row after their win in the season-opener. It remains to be seen where he would slot in the batting order if given the chance. The franchise are in need of a solid opening batter and at number three and the youngster could easily slot in either of these positions. (more to follow)