Teenage cricketer dropped from Mumbai XI despite impressive century, shares heartfelt message for Rohit Sharma

Ayush Mhatre, the promising 17-year-old batsman from Mumbai, recently penned a touching message for his idol Rohit Sharma after being replaced by him in the Ranji Trophy playing XI against Jammu and Kashmir. Mhatre had a remarkable start to his first-class career, amassing 441 runs in just 6 matches with an impressive average of 40.09. Despite his consistency and talent displayed at such a young age, Mhatre graciously made way for Indian Test captain Rohit, who was making his Ranji comeback in a bid to regain form.

Mhatre was on cloud nine after sharing the dressing room with his idol Rohit and called it an unreal moment.

"Started playing cricket by watching him bat on television to sharing a dressing room with my idol was such an unreal moment. Lots of learning to take forward," Mhatre wrote on Instagram.

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A post shared by Ayush Mhatre (@ayush_m255)

In the last Ranji Trophy match against Services, Mhatre slammed 116 runs in Mumbai's big win.

The 17-year-old made his List A debut last year and slammed 458 runs so far at an astonishing average of 65.42 which included two centuries and a fifty.

Meanwhile, Rohit endured a tough red-ball season where he struggled against New Zealand at home and Australia Down Under.

Rohit Sharma flops on Ranji return

Playing his first game for Mumbai in domestic red-ball cricket in nearly a decade, Rohit's first day on the field was a disaster, with the 37-year-old falling for a 19-ball 3 in the opening hour of the Ranji Trophy clash against Jammu Kashmir.

But on Friday, Rohit gave a far better account of himself to notch up a fluent 28, his best in first-class cricket since a 52 in the second innings of the Bengaluru Test against New Zealand last year.

It indeed has been that long for Rohit, who has since scored 0, 8, 18, 11, 3, 6, 3 and 9 in subsequent outings against New Zealand and Australia.

Rohit's innings was marked with flashes of brilliance as well as misses but some of the strokes he played -- twice he lifted Jammu and Kashmir pacers over their head for sixes -- showed the promise of the Indian Test and ODI captain rediscovering his long lost form.

It will be interesting to see whether Rohit will return to action in Mumbai's next Ranji match against Meghalaya starting January 30.

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