IPL 2019: 5 players who can win the 'Emerging Player of the Year' award

Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the greatest stages for any young cricketer to showcase his talent and make his presence felt. If a young player performs well throughout the entire season, everyone around the world notices it. Any young player would not like to miss this opportunity. Indian Premier League also has a way to encourage these young players as the player who performs exceptionally well throughout the season, wins the 'Emerging Player of the Year' award.

There are some criteria that have to be followed while giving this award. Those criteria are mentioned below.

i) The player must be born on or after 1 April 1993.

ii) He must have played 5 or fewer Tests, 10 or fewer One Day Internationals or T20 International matches.

iii) He must have played less than 25 Indian Premier League matches.

iv) He must have never won this award.

In this article, we are going to take a look at the top 5 contenders for the Emerging Player of the Year award.

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5. Mayank Markande

Mayank Markande had the dream start of his IPL career. Markande plays for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. He took 3 wickets on his IPL debut against the Chennai Super Kings. One of his three wickets was of the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni. A young player can only dream about taking his wicket.

Mayank Markande was very good at the beginning of the IPL last year but slowly faded away as the tournament progressed. This year he would be hoping to perform well throughout the season.

Mayank is also in good form in the Ranji Trophy this year. He has picked up 29 wickets in six matches till now. In the 14 IPL games that he has played, he has picked up 15 wickets. Mayank is definitely one of the top contenders to get this award at the end of the season.

4. Jofra Archer

BBL - Hurricanes v Sixers

Jofra Archer plays for the Rajasthan Royals franchise in the Indian Premier League. Jofra Archer has impressed many greats of the game with the sheer talent that he possesses. He is a wonderful athlete on the field. He has that raw pace which can pose a problem to any batsman in the world. He is also handy with the bat. He can hit the ball for quite a long distance.

Jofra Archer is another one of those players who moved to England for better opportunities. He currently plays T20 leagues around the world. Till now, he has played 74 T20 matches across the globe and has picked up 96 wickets.

He also has an impressive first-class record. He has picked up 131 wickets in just 28 first-class matches. Last year in the IPL, he impressed everyone with his bowling abilities. He has picked up 15 wickets in 10 matches. He is also a front runner to win this award.

3. Prithvi Shaw

CA XI v India - International 4-Day Tour Match: Day 2

This young lad from Mumbai has been making noise in the cricket arena for quite some time now. He has already started his international cricket career against West Indies where he scored a century in his debut match. He was a bit unlucky to get injured before the Australian Test series.

Now he is fully fit and is ready to partner with Shikhar Dhawan and would want to take his team to the podium. Everyone around the world knows about his cricketing talent. Prithvi Shaw made his IPL debut last year but only managed to play 9 matches in the season. In those 9 matches, he scored 245 runs with an amazing strike rate of 153.

Prithvi Shaw would want this to be his breakthrough IPL season and would also want to turn the tides for his franchise Delhi Capitals. He would definitely be a tough competitor for others in the race to win the Emerging Player of the Season award.

2. Prasidh Krishna

Prasidh Krishna replaced injured Kamle

Prasidh Krishna is one of the underdogs to win this award. Last year he was included in the Kolkata Knight Riders squad midway in the tournament due to the injury to Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

He was very impressive last year for the Kolkata Knight Riders team. He played 7 matches and was able to pick up 10 wickets. He proved to be a good death bowler for the Kolkata Knight Riders team. He plays for Karnataka in the domestic circuit and is quite consistent for them.

This time around with injuries to both Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti, he has the chance to play the whole IPL season for the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise. Prasidh Krishna has the ability to become the emerging player of the season. Everyone should have an eye on him, he has impressed many with his abilities in the domestic season and might be just ready to take his game to the next level.

1.Shubman Gill

England U19's v India U19's - 4th ODI

Shubman Gill is the top contender to win the award this season. He recently got included in the national team for the New Zealand tour because of the controversy of Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul. Shubman Gill played lower down the order for Kolkata Knight Riders last year but this year he might get the chance to bat in the top order.

Shubman Gill started to make noise from his U19 days. He won the Man of the Tournament award at the U19 World Cup 2018. Shubman Gill impressed everyone with his technique. Many believe that he has a better technique for swinging and seaming conditions than Prithvi Shaw.

Shubman Gill is currently the leading run scorer for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy this season. He has scored 1089 runs in just 9 matches with an average of 77.78. Last year, in the 13 matches that he played for Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored 203 runs with a strike rate of 146. Shubman Gill will want to make this season his own.