Ayush Mhatre's bat drama: What really happened?

• Mhatre was briefly accused of using an oversized bat in CSK vs PBKS IPL match.
• The umpire mistakenly held the bat gauge upside down, delaying play.
• CSK made one change, bringing in Prashant Veer, while PBKS fielded an unchanged side.

In a bizarre turn of events at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium for Match No. 7 of IPL 2026 between Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings, ace batter Ayush

Mhatre was wrongly accused by the on-field umpire Abhijit Bhattacharya of having carried an oversized bat to the crease, as he prepared himself to take his guard at No. 3.

Mhatre signalled towards the dugout to carry a fresh set of bats for him, but that bat too failed the thickness test. However, the umpire soon realised that he was holding the bat gauge, a tool used to measure the thickness of the blade, upside down, which caused the bat to get stuck midway. Once Mhatre confronted the umpire's technique, Bhattacharya soon rectified himself and allowed Mhatre to finally start his innings.

Check the video of the incident here

UMPIRE TOOK TIME FOR CHECKING BAT OF AYUSH MHATRE #AyushMhatre #SanjuSamson #PBKS #CSK #PBKSvsCSK #ShreyasIyer pic.twitter.com/EJCgrDIVqD

— Somesh Jangra (@CelebrityGalax) April 3, 2026

The 18-year-old came in to bat at number three after Sanju Samson was dismissed by Xavier Bartlett on the last ball of the fourth over. The youngster took four balls to set his eyes in, but hit a flurry of boundaries later to accumulate 23 runs off the next ten balls he faced. As of writing, Mhatre is unbeaten on 23 off 14, batting alongside his captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.

Meanwhile, CSK made one change to their lineup from the previous clash against RR, as Matthew Short had to make way for youngster Prashant Veer. Their opponents, on the other hand, came in to the contest unchanged, carrying confidence in their team combination from their opening match where they beat Gujarat Titans quite convincingly.

CSK vs PBKS: Playing XIs

Chennai Super Kings

Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Kartik Sharma, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmed, Matt Henry, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed

Impact Substitutes: Jamie Overton, Rahul Chahar, Matthew Short, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Gurjapneet Singh

Punjab Kings

Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Impact Substitutes: Suryansh Shedge, Priyansh Arya, Vishnu Vinod, Pravin Dubey, Hemant Brar