The Indian Premier League (IPL) has always provided a launching pad for the youngsters to go out there and prove themselves.
Not many would disagree with the fact that the IPL has gifted several gems to different countries in terms of their cricketing abilities and skills.
Indian cricket has benefitted largely from the IPL.
Ever since its inception way back in 2008, IPL has provided several youngsters the opportunities to go out there and prove their mettle.
Some cricketers run pillar to post to live their dream and get an opportunity and IPL has successfully done that.
Cricketers like Rohit Sharma, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have all received a lot of limelight after playing in the lucrative IPL.
Not only do the cricketers enjoy financial freedom but also receive a lot of fame and adulation.
To identify young players who are capable of being labelled as the “next big-thing” in cricket, the IPL has an award called the “Emerging Player” Award.
It is given to a youngster who has played well in that season and therefore has been rewarded richly.
In all the years, Indians have dominated this category. The only time an overseas player received the award was in 2016.
Bangladeshi left-arm speedster Mustafizur Rahman had bagged the award while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
Rahman had 17 scalps in his kitty in the 16 games he had played for the Hyderabad franchise in IPL 2016.
He was one of the key reasons why SRH lifted the title that year, after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the finals.
There are a few criteria which the players have to meet if they are to be eligible for the Emerging Player Award.
- Player should be born after 1st April 1996
- At the start of the IPL season, the player should not have played more than 25 IPL matches.
- The player should have played less than 5 Test matches and 20 ODIs
- He should not have won the Emerging Player Award previously
In this article, we take a look at the complete list of Emerging Player Award recipients in the IPL since its beginning:
| Year | Player |
| 2008 | Shreevats Goswami |
| 2009 | Rohit Sharma |
| 2010 | Saurabh Tiwary |
| 2011 | Iqbal Abdullah |
| 2012 | Mandeep Singh |
| 2013 | Sanju Samson |
| 2014 | Axar Patel |
| 2015 | Shreyas Iyer |
| 2016 | Mustafizur Rahman |
| 2017 | Basil Thampi |
| 2018 | Rishabh Pant |
| 2019 | Shubman Gill |
| 2020 | Devdutt Padikkal |
| 2021 | Ruturaj Gaikwad |
| 2022 | Umran Malik |
Also read: IPL 2023: 3 Reasons Why Faf Du Plessis Might Have A Good IPL Season
