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Indian Premier League presents youngsters a wonderful opportunity to rub shoulders with the world's best players and learn from them. It is the tournament where "Talent meets Opportunity."
Before the start of IPL, a lot of youngsters hogged the limelight with their huge pay cheques. During the IPL, they have proved their worth for their respective teams and dished out match-winning performances. Such performances and consistency were considered while choosing the best XI.
Note: The criteria used was that the players should be 25 years old or less than that.
Openers
Prithvi Shaw
The captain of the Under 19 World Cup winning team, Prithvi Shaw was bought by Delhi Daredevils for a whopping price of 1.2 crores. He had to patiently wait for his chance to feature in the playing XI.
The Mumbaikar has impressed with his style of playing, and many have compared him to the great Sachin Tendulkar.
In the nine matches that he played, he looked fearless and wowed the crowd with his repertoire of shots. He has scored 245 runs at a strike-rate of over 150 which has helped Delhi get off to flying starts.
Ishan Kishan
Ishan Kishan played for the Gujarat Lions in the previous edition of the league. In the limited opportunities that he got, he impressed everyone with his strokes and many even went on to compare him with Parthiv Patel.
Mumbai Indians picked him at the auctions for a price of 6.2 crores. The aggressive batsman started the IPL on a bright note but was largely inconsistent throughout the tournament. He finished the season with 275 runs at a strike-rate of 140.
Middle Order
Sanju Samson
Sanju Samson has been described by many as the future star of Indian cricket. His shot-making ability and aggressive batting are a treat to watch. In the current season, his batting position was shuffled regularly due to which his form dipped.
Despite that, he scored 441 runs in 15 matches at an impressive strike-rate of around 140.
Shreyas Iyer (Captain)
After Gautam Gambhir quit in the middle of IPL, Shreyas Iyer was handed over the mantle of leading Delhi Daredevils. He has impressed with his captaincy skills and notched up famous wins against Chennai Super Kings and knocked out Mumbai Indians out of the IPL.
He was solid in the middle-order and held up one end while the other batsmen went berserk. He was equally capable of shifting gears if and when required, as we witnessed in the innings against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Nitish Rana (KKR)
Nitish Rana was with Mumbai Indians until the last year. KKR bought him for 3.4 Crores in the auction. His ability to adapt to any situation makes him a team player. If need be, he can start going after the bowlers from ball one else he can play the role of a sheet anchor. He scored 304 runs in 15 matches and also picked up four wickets.
He won 2 Man of the Match awards for KKR this year. He even chipped in with some crucial overs and getting some important breakthroughs, including bagging the wickets of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same over.
Finisher
Rishabh Pant
One of the three players to be retained by Delhi, Rishabh Pant had a stellar IPL season. Many cricket pundits and legends had questioned Delhi's decision to retain Pant at such a high price. He silenced all those critics with his explosive knocks.
The stylish wicketkeeper-batsman is widely touted to replace Dhoni in the national team after next year's World Cup. He scored 684 runs at an average of over 52 and finished second on the list of highest run-getters in the tournament. He was also awarded the Best Emerging Player of IPL 2018.
His knock against SRH left everyone spell-bound. Also, he was the first Indian to score a century in this year's IPL.
Spinners
Mayank Markande
Before the start of this year's IPL, very few of them would have heard about Mayank Markande. After the first match against CSK, everyone who follows cricket would have taken notice of the youngster's performance.
He had a dream start to the IPL and the highlight of his debut was MS Dhoni's wicket.
The youngster showed remarkable composure in pressure situations and was a standout performer for Mumbai. He picked up 15 wickets in 14 matches.
Mujeeb Zadran
The young spinner from Afghanistan hogged the limelight playing for Punjab. He choked the run flow in the middle overs and kept his composure while bowling at the death. He was effective with his variations and batsmen found difficult to read his deliveries.
The youngsters' performance can be gauged from his bowling numbers. He was one of the top 5 economical bowlers with an economy of 6.87. With 14 wickets in eleven games at an average of 23, he was one of the key bowlers for Punjab.
Fast Bowlers
Ankit Rajpoot
In this year's IPL, Ankit Rajpoot is not an unknown name. He had the best bowling figures in this year's edition. After missing out on the first three matches, he bowled exceptionally well in the opportunities that he has got. Notably, he has also bagged two consecutive Man of the Match awards in two matches.
In the eight matches that he played, he picked up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 8.52.
Jofra Archer
One of the most talked about players before the start of the IPL, Jofra Archer's arrival to the IPL was much awaited. After missing the initial matches due to a side strain, the Englishman took the IPL by storm.
In his first match against Mumbai Indians, he rattled MI's much-fancied batting line-up. His two overs at the death yielded just four runs and five runs respectively. Importantly, it was the three wickets that he picked up which changed the complexion of the game. For his performance, he was awarded the Man of the Match in his first game in the IPL.
He has paid back handsomely the Rs. 7.2 crores that RR paid for him with his pin-point yorkers, and his athletic fielding. In the 10 matches that he played, he picked up 15 wickets at an economy rate of 8.36.
His addition to the IPL got the fans excited and his energy, along with his signature celebration style grabbed eyeballs and made him the latest star in the IPL.
#11 Mohammed Siraj
Initially, Mohammed Siraj did not feature in the playing XI for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Once he was drafted, there was no looking back as he kept picking up wickets at regular junctures and choked the run flow in death overs.
He along with Umesh Yadav have bowled beautifully and were one of the reasons why RCB came so close to seal a playoff spot. He took 11 wickets and his best bowling figures were 3 for 25 in this year's IPL.
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