The Indian Premier League’s 18th season has been a time-machine for anyone who followed the 2018 and 2020 ICC Under-19 World Cups. Almost every night, one of those once-teenage prodigies is lighting up the world’s most-watched T20 league. Some have become franchise cornerstones, others are fighting to reclaim early promise, and a few are plotting quieter comebacks away from the limelight. Here’s a deep, human-centred look at where the two most recent champion batches—the class of Prithvi Shaw (2018) and the class of Priyam Garg (2020)—stand in IPL 2025, what defines their journeys, and why their stories matter to Indian cricket’s next growth spurt.
The Class of 2018: Five Years to Full Bloom
| Player (U-19 role) | IPL 2025 Franchise | Current Role & Form | The Road So Far |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shubman Gill (VC) | Gujarat Titans | Captain-opener, Orange-Cap race leader (563 runs @ 51.18) | Graduated from backup at KKR to GT’s face; refined power game, improved strike rotation, and now India’s all-format No. 3. His 71-ball 106* vs DC proved his finishing steel. The Times of India |
| Prithvi Shaw (Captain) | Kolkata Knight Riders | Middle-order aggressor (238 runs @ 158 SR) | Reinvented as a spin-basher after early-career troughs and fitness stumbles. Works closely with KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir to rebuild red-ball ambitions. |
| Shivam Mavi (Strike seamer) | Lucknow Super Giants | Death-overs enforcer (14 wkts, ER 8.3) | Pace boosted to 145 kph after NCA reboot; slower-ball disguise still winning him contracts despite injury-marred 2023-24 seasons. |
| Kamlesh Nagarkoti (Speedster) | Physio table / KKR support staff | Rehabilitation phase | After three recurrences of a stress fracture, the Royals released him; KKR hired him as a bowling-development intern—proof the system wants to keep his biomechanics knowledge in-house. |
| Riyan Parag (Finisher) | Rajasthan Royals | No. 6 all-rounder (181 runs, 6 wkts) | Social-media darling overcame meme-taunts; now bowls more off-spin and finishes rather than starts. |
| Harvik Desai (Wk) | Saurashtra domestic | No IPL contract | Consistent Syed Mushtaq Ali performer; rumours of GT trials for 2026 mini-auction. |
| Anukul Roy (Left-arm spin) | Kolkata Knight Riders | Impact-Player sub | Still a power-play matchup weapon but batting ceiling limiting game time; mentors young uncapped sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi in RR nets. The Guardian |
Key takeaway: 2018’s poster boys reveal that patience, injury management, and role flexibility trump early hype. Gill’s success story is mirrored by Shaw’s stop-start arc—both remind academies that technical pedigree must meet lifestyle discipline. Injuries to Mavi and Nagarkoti highlight India’s long-standing fast-bowler fragility and the need for scientific workloads at U-19 level.
The Class of 2020: Pandemic-era Prospects Come of Age
| Player | IPL 2025 Franchise | Breakout Metric | Narrative Hook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yashasvi Jaiswal (MOTM 2020 final) | Rajasthan Royals | 9 sixes per 100 balls (best in league) | From selling pani-puri to smashing power-play records, Jaiswal’s fearless lofted drives define RR’s Bazball-lite blueprint. |
| Ravi Bishnoi (Leg-spinner) | Lucknow Super Giants | 7.1 ER in middle overs | Still bowls quicker, flatter googlies; now adding stock-leg-break turn after mentoring by Amit Mishra. |
| Tilak Varma (LH batter) | Mumbai Indians | 417 runs @ 147 SR, 60% boundary-contact | Anchors MI 2.0 post-Rohit era; his “north-south slog-sweep” went viral on Reels. |
| Kartik Tyagi (Fast bowler) | Sunrisers Hyderabad | Yorker accuracy 78% | Missed 2024 after ankle surgery; biomechanical tweak raised release point, giving him Bumrah-esque release deception. |
| Priyam Garg (Captain) | No franchise, playing for UP** | Going back to first-class grind | Dropped after string of low SR innings; working on power-hitting at Abid Ali academy, keen on 2025 December auction. |
| Dhruv Jurel (Wk-bat) | Rajasthan Royals | 167.3 SR in last-five overs | Channeling MSD calm; RR rely on his late-over lap-scoop innovation. |
| Sushant Mishra, Akash Singh (Left-arm seamers) | Domestic circuit | Swing revival | Both honing the new-ball craft amid IPL’s slower-ball obsession; scouts eye them as power-play specialists for low-bounce venues. |
Why it matters: The 2020 batch entered senior cricket amid bio-secure bubbles and schedule chaos. Their transition emphasises soft-skill growth—mental well-being apps, remote coaching, and video-analysis literacy. Jaiswal’s success shows value in fearless strokeplay backed by data, while Bishnoi’s journey underlines that niche skills (quicker googly) must evolve or else batting line-ups will neutralise you quickly.
Four Narrative Threads Binding 2018 & 2020 Alums in 2025
- Versatility > Prototype labels: Shaw was stamped “future Test opener,” Parag “part-time tweaker,” Bishnoi “mystery bowler.” IPL franchises, however, reward multi-dimensionality. Players who embraced micro-roles—Gill finishing, Jurel keeping-and-finishing—secured spots ahead of those locked in single-skill silos.
- Fitness tech as differentiator: Wearable workload trackers Piloted by NCA since 2022 helped Mavi avoid stress-fracture relapse, while Tyagi credits a motion-capture programme designed during rehab. Players poor at logging data lag behind contemporaries with sport-science literacy.
- Domestic detours aren’t dead ends: Garg, Desai, and Anukul Roy prove Ranji & Vijay Hazare returns can re-ignite IPL bids. With 10 teams, the league’s talent hunger is insatiable; strong domestic numbers still trigger mid-season replacement calls.
- Brand management & mental health: Shaw’s early lifestyle missteps, Parag’s trolling saga, and Jaiswal’s inspirational backstory all underline the pressure cooker of social media. The BCCI’s 2024 “Mind-Room” initiative pairs U-19 grads with sports psychologists, a quiet but crucial reason behind fewer burnout cases this season.
The Ones Knocking Next
While 2018 & 2020 headlines dominate nostalgia feeds, scouts already whisper about Musheer Khan, Saumy Pandey, and teen phenomenon Vaibhav Suryavanshi, whose 35-ball ton made him the youngest IPL centurion ever at 14. The Guardian Their meteoric rise mirrors Gill’s 2018 surge and reminds incumbents that the conveyor belt never stops.