The IPL 2023 will begin on March 31 with the mega clash of defending champions Gujarat Titans hosting MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, the same venue where Hardik Pandya‘s charismatic team won the IPL 2022 trophy in what was their debut IPL season.
Every season for the past 15 seasons, the IPL has thrown up some lesser-known local players and given them the platform to succeed and shine, and the youngsters did.
The best of the young players in the season is rewarded with the Emerging Player of the Season award.
It started as the “best Under-19 player” in 2008; then the “best Under-23 player” in 2009 and 2010, before being called “Under-23 Success of the Tournament”. In the 2011 and 2012 seasons, the award was known as “Rising Star of the Year”, and in 2013, it was called “Best Young Player of the Season”.
Since IPL 2014, the award has been called the ‘Emerging Player of the Year’.
Some of the biggest names in Indian cricket has won this award: Rohit Sharma in 2009; Sanju Samson in 2013; Shreyas Iyer in 2015; Rishabh Pant in 2018; Shubman Gill in 2019.
Umran Malik who won the Emerging Player of the Year award in IPL 2022.
The criteria for the Emerging Player of the Year award is:
Should be born after 1 April 1995
Should have played 5 or fewer Test matches or 20 or fewer ODIs
Should have played in 25 or fewer IPL matches (at the start of the season)
Should have not previously won the Emerging Player Award
Here are 2 top contenders to win the Emerging Player of the Year award in IPL 2023:
Tilak Varma
As a 19-year-old Tilak Varma got the highest praise he had perhaps ever gotten in his professional career when India and Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma predicted that the left-hander will soon be playing all three formats for India. Rohit was particularly impressed by the temperament young Tilak Varma showed in the IPL 2022 to stabilize the MI innings after regular malfunctions in their top order.
In a season in which MI finished at the bottom of the table, Tilak Varms was their brightest spot, scoring 397 runs at an average of 36 and striking at 131. With Rohit and Kishan having a scratchy tournament last year, Varma had to rebuild the innings more often than not, and he did it with great temperament; even his slogs were graceful and elegant, courtesy of his immaculate timing.
It was just Tilak Varma’s bad luck that Umran Malik had a sensational season too and the SRH speedster bagged the Emerging Player of the Year award in IPL 2022. The Hyderabad-born batsman has now also made it to India A and had a brilliant domestic season across formats. If Varma continues such performances in the IPL 2023, the 20-year-old could get the Emerging Player of the Year award this year which he, unfortunately, didn’t get last year.
Mohsin Khan
Uttar Pradesh left-arm fast bowler Mohsin Khan was one of the most impressive pacers in the IPL 2022. What made him stand out from other Indian pacers was his ability to hit the deck hard and gather bounce due to his height – this is something that the selectors will keep an eye on because generating bounce on Indian pitches for Indian pacers is not a common ability – plus his left-arm angle made him a menacing bowler to face.
Bowling for Lucknow Super Giants, Mohsin Khan snapped 14 wickets in 9 IPL 2022 matches and he maintained a terrific economy of 5.96. Not leaking runs while playing on good batting surfaces put Mohsin in the limelight.
However, the 24-year-old has not played any domestic match since last IPL, and barely anyone knows where he’s been – whether marked by injuries or something else – in the past many months.
Anyway, come the IPL 2023, Mohsin Khan would be on the radar of the fans and the Indian selectors and team management. The 24-year-old could make it into the Indian team setup by bagging the Emerging Player of the Year award in IPL 2023.
