MS Dhoni is not only a cricketer, but an emotion for a large part of fans. Years after years, numerous young and retired players have admired Dhoni for his talent and composure. Ayush Mhatre is one such player, who walked into Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as a replacement during mid-season. From his debut match, Mhatre has performed exceptionally well for the team. Similar to numerous others, Ayush Mhatre too considers MS Dhoni as an inspiration. In a viral video, Dhoni is spotted sitting in the dugout with Matheesha Pathirana beside him. Pathirana gets up and vacates his seat. Mhatre, who was seated on the other side of Pathirana, shifts quickly and sits in the vacant seat beside Dhoni. In the video, Dhoni can be seen smiling while Mhatre is sitting beside him, and then the two had a chat about the game. Watch the video here: That smile on Thala’s face when Ayush came and sat beside him🥹💛 pic.twitter.com/UpyPvmATeG — Pratik (@PratikCSK) May 27, 2025 Also Read | Can MI Win IPL 2025 From Eliminator? History Says No Mhatre's Impressive Run in Debut Season Ayush Mhatre, 17, who was yet to play a T20 game, was called up by Chennai Super Kings as a replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad. Although he had shown his class in U19 games, playing in front of a huge crowd in the toughest T20 league like the IPL was never going to be a cakewalk for a young lad. Mhatre got his first game against Mumbai Indians, where he announced his arrival in style by scoring a quickfire 32. He then scored 30 runs in the next game against SRH, followed by a single-digit score in the next match against PBKS. However, the best was yet to come. In the following match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Mhatre hammered 94 runs off just 48 balls. Though CSK lost the game, they won in terms of finding a talented youngster. Ayush played a total of seven matches in IPL 2025, scoring 240 runs at a strike rate of 188.97. He is one of the sure-shot retentions for Chennai Super Kings ahead of the next season.