Success in red-ball cricket has motivated me: Ayush Pandey after impressive display against Mumbai

Ayush Pandey had a breakout domestic season last year as he was among the top scorers in Ranji Trophy, amassing 744 runs for Chhattisgarh.

Though he did not have a memorable start to this campaign, having scored just 8 and 27 against Rajasthan in the campaign-opener, the 22-year-old stamped his class against Mumbai as he scored a fifty in the first innings and followed it up with an unbeaten ton to deny the domestic giant an outright win.

The soft-spoken Ayush admitted that with the wicket easing out, his target was to ensure that the let-arm spinners did not settle in, and he was happy to have executed the plan to perfection.

ALSO READ: Mumbai’s best efforts to claim outright win against Chhattisgarh falls through

While he did not have remarkable returns in age-group cricket, Ayush caught the attention last year, as he scored runs in the Buchi Babu Trophy and followed it up with the Ranji Trophy success.

“For me, the campaign in Buchi Babu gave me a lot of confidence and I could build on that. This time, too, I look forward to building on this performance,” Ayush said, adding that the team learned from its mistakes in the first innings and bounced back. “We knew what errors we committed and our idea was to bat through and through, and we could do that,” he said.

He started playing the game quite early as his father, a die-hard fan of Sachin Tendulkar, enrolled him in the Riaz Cricket Academy in Raipur. “I also passionate about the game and slowly things worked out for me,” he said, adding: “So far, I haven’t played much of white-ball cricket, but the success in red-ball cricket has motivated me…”

Published on Oct 28, 2025