Best under-23 XI of IPL 2023

IPL 2023 culminated earlier today in Ahmedabad. After a long wait, the Chennai Super Kings defeated the Gujarat Titans by five wickets in the final match to become the new champions of the Indian Premier League.

Like every IPL season, the 2023 edition of the league witnessed the rise of many youngsters. Several cricketers aged less than 23 impressed the fans with their spectacular performances.

In this list, we will form the strongest playing XI from IPL 2023, featuring only the U-23 cricketers.

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Openers: IPL 2023 Emerging Player of the Season Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prabhsimran Singh

Two young Indian openers will start the innings for this team. Rajasthan Royals' star Yashasvi Jaiswal will open the batting with Punjab Kings' batter Prabhsimran Singh.

Jaiswal set a new record for the most runs scored by an uncapped batter in a single IPL season this year. He aggregated 625 runs in 14 matches and also set a new record for the fastest half-century in the tournament's history.

Prabhsimran Singh played multiple match-winning knocks for the Punjab Kings this season. He notched up his maiden IPL ton in a must-win match against the Delhi Capitals.

Although PBKS and RR could not qualify for the playoffs, Jaiswal and Singh established themselves as the best young Indian openers right now.

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Middle Order: Sai Sudharsan, N Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Dhruv Jurel (wk) and Abdul Samad

Gujarat Titans' number three batter, Sai Sudharsan, will bat at number three for this team as well. Sudharsan played the anchor's role to perfection for GT in the league stage matches. After he was asked to retire in Qualifier 2, Sudharsan came back stronger in the final and smashed 96 runs to help GT post 214/4 on the board.

Mumbai Indians' youngsters N Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera will shoulder this team's middle order. Both batters stepped up and delivered the goods for MI while batting at different positions. Varma scored 343 runs at a strike rate of 164.11, whereas Wadhera aggregated 241 runs at a strike rate of 145.18.

Dhruv Jurel and Abdul Samad will be the finishers for this team. Rajasthan Royals' Jurel showed that he can hit the ball out of the park even under pressure. Samad failed to make an impact on a couple of occasions this season, but he bounced back well and helped Sunrisers Hyderabad finish their innings well.

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Bowlers: Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad and Suyash Sharma

Only two overseas players feature on this team. The first is Chennai Super Kings' death overs specialist Matheesha Pathirana, and the second is Gujarat Titans' left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad.

Both bowlers know how to keep a check on the run flow. The pressure built by their tight bowling helped their teams pick up many wickets. Shedding some light on their numbers in IPL 2023, Pathirana accounted for 19 wickets in 12 matches, while Noor took 16 wickets in 13 games.

Rajvardhan Hangargekar and Suyash Sharma complete the lineup. Hangargekar did not play too many matches for CSK, but the right-arm pacer took an impressive three-wicket haul on debut against the Gujarat Titans.

Meanwhile, Sharma played his first-ever T20 match in the IPL 2023 and ended the season as one of the top spinners for the Kolkata Knight Riders. The leg-spinner bagged 10 wickets in 11 games at an economy rate of 8.23.

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Best U-23 XI of IPL 2023

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prabhsimran Singh, Sai Sudharsan, N Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Dhruv Jurel, Abdul Samad, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, Noor Ahmad, Suyash Sharma.