Chennai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) openers Ayush Mhatre and Shaikh Rasheed etched their names in the history books as they become second youngest-ever opening pair in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He achieved the historic milestone during the clash between CSK and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday, April 25.
In the southern derby clash, Chennai Super Kings suffered yet another defeat against Pat Cummins-led SRH by 5 wickets. This was CSK's seventh defeat of the ongoing IPL 2025 and became the first team to be ruled out of the playoff's race as they can only reach to 12 points even if they win their remaining all matches.
At a combined age of 38 years & 131 days, Shaik Rasheed & Ayush Mathre are the second youngest opening pair in IPL behind Yashasvi Jaiswal & Vaibhav Suryavanshi (37y & 135d vs LSG in Jaipur, 2025)#CSKvsSRH2025 #SRHvsCSK
— Adnan Abbasi (@Adnanabbasi022) April 25, 2025
CSK have been struggling with the forms of their batters, especially in the powerplay with the bat. In an attempt to improve their powerplay batting record, CSK did unlike CSK thing by sending two uncapped Indian batters to open the innings by dropping Rachin Ravindra and hand a debut to Dewald Brevis.
The 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre was included in the squad as a replacement of skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad while the 20-year-old Shaikh Rasheed made his debut against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday. Mhatre is also IPL's second-youngest opener behind Suryavanshi (14 years, 23 days). Rasheed had become CSK's youngest opener ever on his IPL debut against LSG, while Mhatre became their youngest player ever and today broke Rasheed's record to.
The Pride on field today! GO WELL SINGAMS!🦁💪🏻#CSKvSRH #WhistlePodu #Yellove 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/fEDvlfIxOo
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 25, 2025
Mhatre (17 years, 283 days) and Rasheed (20 years, 213 days) became the second youngest (in terms of comibed age) opening pair after Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 years, 135 days), who recently set the record by opening the batting for Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the first time against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) last week.
The opening pair formed by Faf du Plessis (27 years, 266 days) and Murli Vijay (28 days, three days) was the previous youngest opening partnership for CSK.
However, the partnership didn't last long and was broken by ace pacer Mohammed Shami, who dismissed Rasheed on the very first ball of the match for a golden duck.
