India has got such a whole lot of young talent at the moment that even if a squad is assembled out of U23 players, it would be good enough to challenge any team in international cricket at the senior level.
Some of the performances that the young Indian players are putting on with both bat and ball in the ongoing IPL 2020 in UAE, they are leaving the cricket pundits completely awestruck.
Here is the best U23 XI of IPL 2020 –
Openers (Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill)
These two players complement each other really well because Prithvi is a power player and looks to hit the ball hard without much use of his feet, while Gill has got a very conventional approach and he plays copybook cricket most of the time.
However, despite playing copybook cricket, Gill can still score runs at a very high tempo, but he can also play the second fiddle if he opens the batting with somebody like Prithvi. While Prithvi has scored two fifties in IPL 2020 so far, Gill has scored one.
Middle Order (Devdutt Padikkal, Priyam Garg, Ishan Kishan)
This is Devdutt Padikkal’s first IPL season, but he is already in race for the orange cap. The left-hander has played 4 games for RCB so far and has scored 3 half-centuries already. He is basically also an opener, but if he plays in a team where Shaw and Gill are already there at the top, then he can be slotted at no. 3.
Priyam Garg showed his class the other day against Chennai Super Kings as he scored a half-century off just 20 odd balls to dig his team Sunrisers Hyderabad out of a hole. While he is not really a powerful striker of the ball, Garg has got a sound technique and can play both off the front and the back-foot.
Ishan Kishan has got wonderful six-hitting ability and that was on display in the game between Mumbai Indians and RCB where Ishan hit a total of 9 sixes which is the maximum no. of sixes hit by a batsman in a single innings in IPL 2020 so far. Ishan is another player who is good against both pace and spin.
All-rounders (Abdul Samad and Abhishek Sharma)
While both Samad and Abhishek are primarily known for the fact that they can hit the ball long and hard, they can also be very handy with the ball. While Samad bowls leg-spin and gets a bit of extra bounce because of his height, Abhishek is a decent left arm spinner.
These two players fit the bill perfectly for the batting all-rounder’s slot at no. 6 and 7.
Bowlers (Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Kartik Tyagi, Ravi Bishnoi)
Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi are getting regular game time at KKR and they are justifying their selection with their consistent performances as well. Both of them have got decent pace and they have shown excellent temperament so far.
Ravi Bishnoi is currently the no. 1 spinner at Kings XI Punjab and although he has not got a lot of wickets in IPL 2020 so far, he has bowled very tight lines in extremely difficult bowling conditions against some of the big hitters of the cricket ball.
Kartik Tyagi has not yet got a game at Rajasthan Royals, but he is in line to make his debut soon and he is another one who can bowl in 140s and can swing the ball as well. Tyagi can add a different dimension to the Rajasthan Royals attack.
