The IPL has been a hotbed for young talent to prove themselves and make a name in the highly competitive and lucrative world of cricket.
As such, the stakes are quite high and that is the baptism of fire that decides who will make it and who will succumb to the high-pressures world of IPL cricket.
Given the plethora of talent from among the very best in international, standing out can be really difficult for a young upstart.
Despite this, there have been a few young cricketers who have caught our eye this IPL, and here is a closer look at them.
Ravi Bishnoi
This young man turned 20 last month and has been one of the most interesting performers of the tournament.
Delving deeper into his life shows the lengths he had to go to be able to get his foot through the door in the cricketing world.
Bishnoi was born in the western part of the Indian state Rajasthan. This place did not have a strong cricketing background and as such, he did not have a cricketing academy to nurture his talents.
That did not stop him as he along with a couple of his coaches and a few friends built a cricket academy of their own and they called it Spartans Cricket Academy.
Just that would not be enough to gain him an entry into the world of cricket. He kept plugging away and working on his bowling with the help of these people.
His first foray into the formal world of cricket came when he took part in the Under-16 trials for the state team of Rajasthan.
He, however, was not successful in this attempt but he did not give up.
He tried twice more for the Under-19 team and again he ended up being unsuccessful both times.
He gave the Under-19 team one last shot and this time he got selected and in 2019, he made his List A debut for Rajasthan.
His first taste of the IPL came in 2018 when he was one of the net bowlers during a practice session involving the Rajasthan Royals.
His claim to fame would come at the Under-19 world cup in 2020. He finished as the highest wicket-taker in the tournament thus staking his claim to the world of the IPL.
He was promptly signed by the Kings XI Punjab who were in need of a spinner following the departure of Ravichandran Ashwin.
While the Kings XI haven’t had a tournament worth remembering so far, Bishnoi has been one of the high points for them.
In 6 matches so far, he has picked up 7 wickets and he has been the most economical bowler for the team. He has been particularly noteworthy for how brave he is when he comes up to bowl to some of the most destructive batsmen in the world.
So far, he has shown that he possesses a far more mature head on his shoulders than his age lets on.
It is a huge accomplishment to be able to stand out in a team full of great names and he has been one of the few decisions that Kings XI can be proud of in this season of the IPL.
Devdutt Padikkal
For a few years now, the world of social media has been having a lot of fun at the expense of Royal Challengers Bangalore and their inability to win the tournament so far.
However, 2020 seems to be their best chance yet and very surprisingly a key element in that has been their 20-year old opening batsman Devdutt Padikkal.
When you are part of a line-up that includes the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, any batsman is expected to play a supporting role but Padikkal has been the show-stealer for the perennially underachieving team of the IPL.
Padikkal was born in the southern Indian state of Kerala but his family moved to Hyderabad and then Karnataka when he was young.
He was able to make it into the Karnataka Under-16 side in 2014 and then into the Under-19 side a little later.
He also made a name for himself in the various regional cricket leagues such as the Karnataka Premier League. His big break came when he got to make his first-class debut for Karnataka in 2018 and later that year, he was picked up by RCB.
Though he did not feature in their plans in 2019, a strong showing in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he ended up as the tournament’s most prolific run-scorer meant that RCB finally decided to give him a chance in the 2020 edition of the IPL and it has paid off so far.
He has impressed as an opener and has been providing strong starts with his technically sound and stylish left-hand batting style.
He has managed to outscore Kohli and AB so far which is not something many batsmen can stake a claim to and that alone has made him one of the most noticeable young batsmen in the IPL this year.
Priyam Garg
Garg first came into the public consciousness when he was chosen as the caption for the Indian squad at the 2020 Under-19 world cup.
Leading some of the most impressive young talents in the country on the global stage is not an easy job and yet Garg managed to do that quite impressively with a cool head that is rarely seen in these tournaments involving young cricketers.
That along with his plaudits at the domestic level was enough for him to be signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad as a middle-order batsman and he has been quite impressive so far.
Garg, who is yet to turn 20 was born in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and from a young age showed a great propensity for cricket.
This paid off in 2018 when he got to make his List A debut for Uttar Pradesh.
His performances during the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy and the 2018–19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy acted as the launching pad for further success and he led the Under-19 squad to the World Cup finals while leading from the front.
A stylish batsman who can shift gears as and when he wants, he has been an important addition to the Sunrisers team this year.
This is a team that is known for getting off to great starts but lacks firepower in the middle of the order.
Priyam Garg has rectified that and he has had a few standout moments already in a squad that includes David Warner, Jamie Bairstow, Kane Williamson, and Manish Pandey which is nothing short of astonishing.
Shubman Gill
While Gill isn’t among the youngest cricketers in the IPL, this seems to be his most impressive run yet and at an age of 23, he is still one of the younger stalwarts to look out for.
This is his third IPL and all three years so far have been with the Kolkata Knight Riders team. Just being a part of this highly competitive squad is no easy task and yet Gill has managed to do just fine so far.
While he has ebbed and flowed in the previous two tournaments with fleeting moments of brilliance interspersed with long periods of mediocrity, he has been brilliant from the get-go in 2020.
He finally seems to have learned to place a high value on his wicket and knows when to take risks and when to bide his time at the crease.
KKR appear to be one of the stronger teams this year and Shubman Gill has played an instrumental part in that.
With the only man on this list with international experience at the senior level and with a lot of young cricketers biting at his heels to stake their claim, Gill came into the tournament under a lot of pressure.
However, so far, he has been able to manage the expectations on him with an alacrity that defies his age.
He is another stylish batsman with a very sound technique who is held in high regard among the greats of the sport.
And given his performances so far, the 2020 IPL could be the launchpad for him onto much greater things in his international career as well.
