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Ayush Mhatre continues to struggle in U-19 Australia tour
07 Oct 2025

India Under-19 cricket team captain Ayush Mhatre's poor run of form continued during the ongoing tour of Australia.

He was dismissed for just four runs in the second innings of the second Youth Test in Mackay on Tuesday.

This marks his fourth single-digit score out of five innings on this tour, highlighting a tough phase for the young cricketer.

Let's decode his struggles.

India U-19s struggle with the bat
Batting woes

India made some changes to their batting order with Vaibhav Suryavanshi dropping to No.3 and Vihaan Malhotra opening.

However, the strategy backfired as Malhotra was dismissed for 11 in the fourth over and Mhatre followed suit soon after.

He scored just four runs off five balls before his dismissal.

Despite the failure of the top order, India went past Australia's first innings total of 135/10 to take the lead.

The visitors went into the lead with three wickets remaining.

Mhatre's form has been patchy
Performance inconsistency

Mhatre's poor form on this Australia tour has been concerning. The top-order batter was dismissed for single digits in each of three Young ODIs - 6,0, 4.

He made 21 in the Youth Test series opener before falling for four in the second game.

It must be noted that Mhatre's numbers in Youth Tests remain sensational despite his recent failures.

Playing his fourth match as per ESPNcricinfo, the batter has raced to 365 runs at a stellar average of 60.83.

India's bowlers shine despite Mhatre's struggles
Bowling brilliance

Though Mhatre endured another poor outing, India's bowlers shone in the second Youth Test.

Henil Patel and Udhav Mohan, India's opening bowlers, wreaked havoc on Australia's batting line-up.

They reduced Australia to a precarious 32 for five within the first 10 overs.

A sixth-wicket partnership of 59 runs between Yash Deshmukh and Alex Lee Young helped Australia recover somewhat, but they could only post a total of 135 runs batting first.

A stellar debut IPL season for Mhatre
IPL 2025

Mhatre shot to fame during the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

He bolstered the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting order that looked flat in the first half.

Mhatre slammed 240 runs from seven games at a strike rate of 188.97 in his debut IPL season.

Earlier this year, the batting sensation scored two consecutive centuries against England Under-19 while leading India in Youth Tests.