Aman Mokhade, the Nagpur-born top-order batter who made his India 'A' debut in Sri Lanka earlier this year, has described the upcoming red-ball series against Australia 'A' — starting in Puducherry on 22 September 2026 — as the most significant assignment of his career to date. The 'A' series, a critical stop on the road to full international recognition, places Mokhade alongside several Vidarbha colleagues in what could be a defining chapter for the talented opener.

Motivation from the tricolour itself

'These games will probably be the biggest matches of my life in terms of level. For that, I don't think there is a need for motivation. It comes from within. The tricolour and the logo of BCCI is on your chest,' Mokhade said in an exclusive interview.

He was emphatic that external push is unnecessary when the shirt carries that kind of weight. 'So I don't think you need any motivation to get up and do well. No matter how much you work on it, it comes from within because growing up is the feeling we need as a cricketer and do good for India, right?' he added.

A Sri Lanka debut and a jersey he slept in

The Australia 'A' series follows Mokhade's first taste of 'A' cricket — a tour of Sri Lanka that India 'A' won 1-0, where he contributed scores of 38 and 11 not out in Galle. But the emotional high of the tour began well before a single ball was bowled. Ahead of the flight out, the squad received their match shirts in Bengaluru, and Mokhade — overcome by emotion — wore his India 'A' jersey to bed that night.

'While growing up, every cricketer dreams about earning it. So, it is always a good experience for that dream to become a reality. When I got the India shirt, I went to sleep wearing it. The material was also soft. So, it was a very special feeling. I mean, I actually got the same feeling which MS Dhoni's character got on getting his first India jersey with his surname and number behind in that movie in 2016,' he said.

He also formed valuable bonds during the Sri Lanka leg. 'I spoke to Ruturaj Gaikwad for a long time. We both are from Maharashtra and we had a connection. Ruturaj bhaiya is very helpful. I used to bat alongside Sai Sudarshan. He's also an opener, just like me. While batting in nets, we talked a lot about cricket and batting,' Mokhade recalled.

Familiar faces and a Vidarbha connect

Mokhade will not lack familiar company in Puducherry. His Vidarbha state team-mates Yash Rathod, Praful Hinge, and Nachiketa Bhute are also part of the India 'A' squad. 'We have played together since childhood and they will also be in the India 'A' team. So the atmosphere of the team is similar to what it is in Vidarbha,' he said. He noted that a similar comfort existed on the Sri Lanka tour, where the presence of Yash Thakur and Harsh Dubey made the transition seamless.

From Nagpur ball boy to net bowler to 'A' cricketer

Mokhade's earliest brush with international cricket was as a ball boy in Nagpur for one of the few international fixtures the city hosted at the time — a role awarded to the best performers from Under-14 camps. A few years later, he talked his way into the nets by convincing a coach he could bowl leg-spin, purely to observe how senior players like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma prepared. 'It was in 2017, where Rohit Sharma scored a century and MSD was also there in that game,' he recalled.

His formal cricketing journey began at a local colony ground, where older neighbourhood boys spotted potential in him and suggested to his mother Manisha that he join a club. His father Ravindra, who once harboured his own cricketing ambitions, took him to the PHCA club, where coach Nitin Kanade had him fielding for his first week — batting time came gradually as he volunteered to bowl fast to earn net access.

The numbers behind the breakthrough and what drives him

Mokhade's domestic surge last season was built on relentless consistency: 760 runs in 11 Ranji Trophy innings at an average of 76, and 814 runs in the 2025/26 Vijay Hazare Trophy for Vidarbha — including five centuries to finish as the tournament's leading run-scorer. He credits coaches Umesh Patwal and Jwala Singh (who has also nurtured opener Yashasvi Jaiswal) for their long-term belief in him, with Patwal first telling a 16-year-old Mokhade that he could represent India.

In the Vidarbha dressing room, senior influences included India pacer Umesh Yadav and batter Karun Nair, whose adaptability from Karnataka's black-soil pitches to Vidarbha's bouncier red-soil surfaces gave Mokhade a masterclass in adding scoring options. 'He made batting look so easy when he was batting in that season. I was lucky enough to see him from the closest corner,' Mokhade said of Nair.

His philosophy for red-ball batting reflects hard-earned wisdom: 'You have to grind and then you can dominate as well. But there is a thing that it has sessions. So, your momentum will break, your focus will go down and you have to start again. So, that's it — you have to be a mixture of everything.'

With the 22 September start date approaching, Mokhade looks primed to convert his rising domestic stock into a statement at the next level — one session at a time.