Despite struggling with the bat, Ayush Mhatre led India Under-19 to a Youth ODI series clean sweep over Australia Under-19 on Friday (September 26).
In the third and final match of the series in Brisbane, India A scored 280-9 in the first innings, with Vedant Trivedi (86) and Rahul Kumar (62) hitting half-centuries. Defending the total, the visitors bowled out Australia A for 113. Udhav Mohan, who impressed during the DPL 2025, picked up 3-20 for India A, but the pick of their bowlers was Khilan Patel, who took 4-26. India A’s 167-run win is their third-biggest in Youth ODIs against Australia A after batting first. Their highest was by a margin of 187 runs at Hobart in 2009.
The visitors clean-swept the series 3-0.
3rd Youth ODI, Australia Under-19 vs India Under-19
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Mhatre struggles with the bat but leads India to a series whitewash
That was Mhatre’s second Youth ODI series win as India U19 captain, having also led them to a 3-2 victory against England U19 in June-July. However, his personal form in the format has left a lot to be desired. In 10 Youth ODIs so far, he has scored only 92 runs at an average of 9.20 and a strike rate of 7.31, with scores of 6, 0, and 4 in his last three innings.
Also read: Vaibhav Suryavanshi breaks all-time Youth ODI sixes record in fiery fifty against Australia U19
The slump comes after he was among the few bright spots in Chennai Super Kings' IPL 2025 wooden-spoon finish. Coming in as an injury replacement, he became the franchise's youngest debutant in the tournament, scoring 240 runs at an average of 34.28 and a strike rate of 188.97, with a top score of 94 against eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Before that, he was Mumbai’s leading run-getter (458 at 65.42) in the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy, India’s premier List A competition. He also had a decent first-class outing for the season, scoring 504 runs at 31.50, including two splendid hundreds – 176 v Maharashtra and 116 v Services, both in the Ranji Trophy.
Unlike his stuttering Youth ODI career, he struck a century (102) in his very first Youth Test, against England U19 in July. He went on to score another one (126) two innings later, leading his team to a draw.
