Bangar reflected that CSK started playing Mhatre in 2025 in a bid to prepare for a major rebuild after it was confirmed the five-time champions would not make the play-offs.
“I think they started this rebuilding phase more or less in the last season itself where they found that they had no chance of making it to the play-offs. So they started giving chances. They saw Ayush Mhatre, who I think will be a starter in the playing XI, and is at number 3,” Bangar said during an interaction on Star Sports.
Bangar also said that the number 4 spot was occupied by a foreign batsman with enough experience. He considered Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube to play at number 5 and number 6 respectively.
“No. 4 is still an open-ended thing. They would want someone at No. 4 because Brevis and Dube can do very, very well at No. 5 and No. 6. I would say Brevis at No. 6. That No. 4 spot could go to an experienced foreign hitter,” he added.
Mhatre had come into the five-time IPL champions’ line-up as an injury replacement for full-time captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. Mhatre has registered 240 runs in seven matches with a blistering strike rate of 188.97. His highest score of 94 off 48 against arch-rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru came in a losing cause.
C.S.K have a purse of INR 43.4 crore going to auction and have nine slots left, including four abroad. They will look to refine their squad to have a better IPL in 2026 than they did in the 2025 edition, where they finished bottom in the points table for the first time in the tournament’s history.
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