Haren
At the age when boys of his age dream in deep sleep, young Ayush Mhatre was up and about, trying to materialise his dreams to reality. For years now, the 17-year old Mhatre, who debuted as opener for Mumbai Ranji Trophy team this season, would wake up at 4:15 am, catch the 5 am train from Virar, his home which is 46 kilometres from the Mumbai downtown, to reach the famed Oval maidan for his practice sessions.
He will now partner Prithvi Shaw this Ranji season. He scored 52 and 22 during his first game against Baroda a few days ago. Mumbai play next against Maharashtra in their second Ranji Trophy game at MCA-BKC ground. It was his aggressive batting style that made the selectors fast-track him to the senior side. He was 13 when his local club Virar-Sainath Sports Club decided to elevate him to their senior team where he faced older boys with ease.
It was his grandfather, a retired railway employee, who would drop him to Mumbai maidaans daily.
“I started to play when I was six but my real cricket started when I was 10. I got admission in Don Bosco High School in Matunga and it was my grandfather Laxmikant Naik (Nana) who took the responsibility to take me there every day. So in the morning I used to go for practice in Matunga, then attend school and then go to Churchgate to attend another practice. My family used to tell my grandfather not to ruin my sleep but now, they too feel that my sacrifice is paying off” he says.
When he was 12, another problem cropped up. His grandfather had to undergo an eye operation which hampered the cricket travel. But his uncle Vijay Mhatre came forward to support. A reputed club-MIG was conducting an open under-14 selection trials and Ayush was selected at the age of 12. As his uncle used to stay near MIG, it was decided that Ayush would stay with him to complete his cricketing dream. But just as the under-14 games were about to be held, Covid-19 ensured Ayush couldn’t play in any BCCI tournament for next two years.
Later, he was picked for the under-16 selection trials for the Kalpesh Koli tournament, where he did well. Cricket began to progress again, he began to feature in a U-19 team as well in a local tournament, hitting hundreds but more bad luck would gatecrash.
His father Yogesh lost his job, and Ayush is grateful for their support despite everything.
“My father and mother never made me realise that there is some financial problem at home. I could see there is an issue, so if I wanted anything, I knew I should delay it. Like if a bat is broken, then I didn’t ask for a new one. Even today my father travels with me on the local train, so that if any verbal fight happens with someone, he will handle it, so that I don’t take any negativity when I’m going to bat,” he adds. His father now works at theVasai Corporation bank as a clerk.
MCA picked him for the KSCA Trophy which happened during off-season camp where he scored 52 and 172 against Gujarat. He was selected for the Irani Cup and Musheer Khan getting injured in an car accident made the selectors pick Ayush to play Ranji Trophy.
The shy teenager, who is Rohit Sharma’s fan, says he is aware not to let this small success get to his head. He has cut himself off social media for the past few months and his family has also told him to ‘keep things simple’, as this is just a start.
