SMAT 2025-26, Group A: Mhatre scores maiden T20 ton to help Mumbai clinch seven-wicket win vs Vidarbha

At just 18 years of age, Ayush Mhatre (110 n.o., 53b, 8×4, 8×6) has a precocious sense of occasion. With national selector RP Singh in attendance at the Ekana Cricket Stadium B in Lucknow, Mhatre slammed a whirlwind maiden T20 century, off just 49 balls, to propel defending champion Mumbai to a seven-wicket win against Vidarbha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

The stars had aligned for Mhatre on Friday. He was named skipper of the Indian Under-19 team for the Asia Cup earlier in the morning, and later in the afternoon, he helmed Mumbai’s response to Vidarbha’s challenging 192-run total with devastating authority, his knock dwarfing the star power of Ajinkya Rahane and Suryakumar Yadav.

He zoomed past his previous best of 94 with consecutive sixes, clearing long-on on both occasions, before raising his ton with another maximum, this one over India pacer Umesh Yadav’s head.

If one thought that it was the adrenaline of a maiden century that had powered Mhatre’s onslaught, he sent the ball sailing over long-on again off the next delivery for good measure. He had made that area of the ground his own, with six of his eight lusty sixes flying over that region.

Meanwhile, the support staff’s repeated reminders to play 20 overs and see the team home, which sternly emanated from beyond the square boundaries, also kept Mhatre going.

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He kept one part of the promise—of staying till the end—but his blitz and Shivam Dube’s 19-ball 39 ensured the job was done in just 17.5 overs.

Dube, at his best against spin, got stuck into Parth Rekhade in the 15th over of the chase, smashing the left-arm spinner for three sixes over deep midwicket and a flick past the wicketkeeper for four. That over decisively turned the match in Mumbai’s favour, leaving just 41 runs to get off 30 balls.

As the adage goes, luck favours the brave, and Mhatre, dropped on 66, enjoyed his share of good fortune. He started off Mumbai’s chase with a streaky four over slips, and then heaved one just over mid-off before nicking one behind that didn’t carry to the cordon. But a six over long-on off the first ball of the second over, bowled by Darshan Nalkande, was a portent of the carnage to follow.

Mhatre took a heavy toll on Umesh, hammering the veteran of 57 Tests for 43 runs off 16 balls. Though he preferred going downtown, laying into the short stuff, Mhatre isn’t a one-trick pony. He cut and punched with dexterity on the behind point and over cover, while also flaunting the pull square of the wicket.

He wasn’t bogged down even as Rahane fell early, trapped leg-before by Nalkande, who got the ball to nip back in. Suryakumar, let off on 16 when wicketkeeper Shivam Deshmukh missed a stumping, was imperious down the ground, but was caught at deep square-leg off when he top-edged a sweep. With Mumbai still more than 80 runs adrift and senior pros back in the hut, Mhatre and Dube didn’t let the chase go astray.

But Mumbai’s pursuit could have been trickier had Vidarbha capitalised on the rollicking start provided by openers Atharva Taide and Aman Mokhade, who added 115 runs inside 10 overs. Mokhade, the right-hander, was the aggressor, scoring 48 of the 79 runs Vidarbha plundered in the PowerPlay.

However, left-arm spinner Atharva Ankolekar’s twin strikes at the halfway mark pegged Vidarbha back, with Mokhade and Dhruv Shorey returning to the dugout in quick succession.

All-rounders Sairaj Patil and Dube showed Mumbai’s frontline seamers, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande, the mirror, reaping the dividends of digging the ball short and taking pace off on a ground with large square boundaries.

They picked three wickets each as Vidarbha lost nine for 77 runs and settled for a total that would eventually be brushed aside with disdain by a prodigy.

Published on Nov 28, 2025