5 contenders for Emerging Cricketer of the Year at ICC Awards 2017

ICC introduced its annual awards in 2004 and from then on, every year they recognise the best individual and team performances across formats.

Emerging Player of the Year is one of those important categories at the ICC awards. The accolade is given to a young and upcoming cricketer who has done exceedingly well in the last 12 months.

While Fakhar Zaman scored a brilliant 100 in the ICC Champions Trophy finals, Travis Head was brilliant for Australia. The 21-year-old Andile Phehlukwayo played a key role in South Africa's limited overs success and Alzarri Joseph from West Indies grew into one of the most promising young fast bowler in international cricket.

These performances were amazing but here in this article, we are going to talk about those exceptional young cricketers who took the world by storm and can win the Emerging Cricketer of the Year award.

Eligibility Criteria: Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period (21st September 2016) and should have played not more than five Tests and/or 10 ODIs before that date.

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#5 Kuldeep Yadav

The slow left-arm chinaman bowler from UP made his international debut in a test match against Australia in March 2017 and became the first slow-left-arm chinaman bowler to represent India national team in Test cricket.

The rising start of Indian cricket has gone from strength to strength since and has become a permanent fixture in the Indian limited overs side. He possesses excellent variations and can beat the batsmen in the air. In his very short career so far, he has already picked up 33 international wickets.

Kuldeep has formed a partnership with leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and they are arguably the most deadly spin duo in limited overs cricket right now.

Stats since Sept'2016

#4 Shadab Khan

Future of Pakistan spin bowling

Shadab Khan made his international debut in a T20 game at that age of 18. In his debut game against West Indies, Khan impressed everyone with a Man of the Match performance of 4-0-7-3. He bamboozled all the Windies batsmen with his guile and variations.

Aged only 19, Shadab Khan has played 12 One Day Internationals, 1 Test, and 7 Twenty20 Internationals so far. In his very short career, he has already picked up 32 international wickets.

However, he is yet to establish himself in the test side, though he is a regular in Pakistan limited overs side. Khan has got some good skills with the bat as well and has an international 50 to his name.

Stats since Sept'2016

#3 Matt Renshaw

The England-born cricketer from Queensland made his international debut at the age of 20 against South Africa in Adelaide.

He has played 10 tests and scored 623 runs with one massive hundred and three fifties with a healthy average of 37. Renshaw is typical old-fashioned cricketer with the temperament to play long innings.

The 21-year-old impressed everyone on tour of India with his patience and ability to play on turning tracks. With age on his side to make it big in Australian cricket, the Ashes series in November could be his real test.

Stats since Sept'2016

#2 Hasan Ali

The 23-year-old fast bowler from Pakistan has taken the cricketing world by storm in less than 12 after making his international debut. He led Pakistan to their maiden ICC Champions trophy title with 13 wickets from 5 games.

Hasan can swing the ball, bowls a deadly yorker and is very consistent with his line & length. He finished as the tournament's highest wicket-taker and was deservedly given the man of the series.

Since his debut in August 2016, the 23-year-old has taken 56 wickets in ODIs at an average of 19.82 and is the leading wicket-taker in 2017 by some distance. In just over a year after making his debut, he climbed to the top spot in the ICC ODI Bowler rankings as well.

Stats since Sept'2016

#1 Peter Handscomb

During the time when Australian middle order was undergoing a transition period after the retirement of Michael Clark, the middle-order batsman from Victoria was called up to the test squad.

In November 2016, he made his debut in a test match against South Africa at Adelaide and scored a fifty on his debut and a hundred in his second test. Handscomb has scored 743 runs in 10 test matches for Australia, which includes 2 hundred and 4 fifties.

His match-saving knock of 72* against India in Ranchi was one of the best innings by an Australian batsman in that series. He has a solid defensive technique and is one of the better players of spin bowling in Australia.

Stats since Sept'2016