From extreme poverty to India U19 captain, meet Mohammad Amaan who went unsold in IPL 2025 auction – Odisha TV

Mohammad Amaan, an orphaned 18-year-old from Saharanpur, rose to fame as India’s U19 captain despite adversities. He went unsold in the IPL 2025 auction but remains hopeful for future cricket achievements.
Mohammad Amaan went unsold in IPL 2025 auction
The 2025 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has made waves for talented debuts and intense cricketing skills from youngsters, including Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Priyansh Arya, and Shaik Rasheed. However, it perhaps also lost out on showcasing the lesser-known Indian cricketing powerhouses, many of whom played Under-19 at the world stage. One such player, carrying an emotional journey, is 18-year-old Mohammad Amaan.
Orphaned at 16, Amaan lost his mother during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Two years later, his father, Mehtab, a jobless truck driver, succumbed to illness, leaving Amaan as the sole guardian of three siblings.
Faced with hunger and homelessness, he balanced survival with an unrelenting cricket dream, often travelling in train toilets to attend trials. Despite these hardships, in 2024, he led India against Australia U19 in Puducherry, becoming a beacon of hope for countless battling adversity.
The Saharanpur native’s childhood was marred by tragedy. After his father’s accident in 2019 led to unemployment, the family sold their home to survive.
In several interviews, Amaan has recalled nights without food, using tournament allowances to feed his siblings, and saving every rupee from cricket to repair their crumbling house. 
Meanwhile, local coach Rajeev Goyal became his lifeline, offering a coaching gig at his academy when Amaan sought daily jobs. For eight hours daily, Amaan honed his skills while mentoring younger players with an unshakeable spirit.
ALSO READ: IPL 2025: LSG vs CSK match was fixed, allege netizens; questions Shardul Thakur's loyalty
Despite his despair, Amaan’s bat silenced critics. In the 2023-24 season, he amassed 363 runs with four fifties for Uttar Pradesh U19 in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, and his 294 runs at a staggering 98 average in the U19 Challenger Series made him the tournament’s second-highest scorer.
In the same season, he was a standby for the U19 World Cup, edging closer to national recognition.
Finally, in December last year, as India's U19 captain, Mohamed Amaan scored an unbeaten 122 runs against Japan in the ACC Men's U19 Asia Cup 2024, breaking a 12-year-old U19 captaincy record.
ALSO READ: Dream11, MyTeam11, MPL Fantasy, My11Circle: Know the owners and how they profit during IPL
In spite of such glory and a rise from all odds, Mohammad Amaan went unsold in the 2025 IPL mega-auction, along with Yash Dhull, Prithwi Shaw, and Unmukt Chand, all of whom had something great to offer to their potential franchise.
However, the ‘snub’ has reportedly not dimmed the youngster’s fire. Amaan, now the family’s breadwinner through cricket, aims to cement his place in senior circuits and has found support from the Saharanpur Cricket Association and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla, as stated in media reports and online interviews.
ALSO READ: IPL 2025 puts UPI in crisis: How lakhs of crores of betting money could be behind recent outages?
Mohammad Amaan’s journey, from sleeping hungry to leading his country, is a testament to grit over privilege and the sheer talent of Indian youths waiting to be noticed and allowed on the big stage.
Our Divisions
Copyright © 2025 – Odisha Television Limited All Rights Reserved.

source