Emerging Player of IPL 2022: Umran Malik wins coveted award for sizzling with the ball for Sunrisers Hyderabad

Emerging Player of IPL 2022: Umran Malik, Tilak Varma are front runners for coveted award

Mumbai, May 20: The Indian Premier League since its inception has been providing a platform for the young players to showcase their abilities. The IPL trophy has the Sanskrit line 'Yatra Pratibha Avsara Prapnotihi' engraved on it. The sentence loosely translates to English 'where talent meets opportunity.'

In its course of 15 seasons, IPL hasn't just encouraged these young uncapped players but also appreciated and rewarded them for their exceptional performances in the season. Right from the start of the domestic T20 league, young and emerging players have been recognised for their good show and introduced the 'Emerging Player of the Season Award'.

In the first edition of IPL in 2008, the award was presented for the "best under-19 player". The 2009 and 2010, the best under-23 player was recognised and it was called "Under-23 Success of the Tournament". In 2011 and 2012, the award was called "Rising Star of the Year". Later in 2013, it was branded as "Best Young Player of the Season". However, since 2014, the award was branded as the 'Emerging Player of the Year' and has been the same since then.

Criteria:

This award is given by BCCI to the player who has best demonstrated, through his performances during the season, showed his potential to be a future star in international cricket.

For a player to be eligible for the Emerging Player Award, he must meet all four of the following criteria:

* He should be born after 1 April 1996;

* He should have played 5 or less Test matches or 20 or less ODIs;

* He should have played in 25 or less IPL matches (as of the start of the season); and

* He should have not previously won the Emerging Player Award.

The winner is selected by a combination of a public vote on www.iplt20.com and the choice of the television commentators.

The front runners of the Emerging Player Award in 2022:

1. Umran Malik (SRH) - 22% vote

2. Tilak Varma (MI) - 20% vote

3. Maheesh Theekshana (CSK) - 13%

4. Mukesh Choudhary (CSK) - 11%

5. Dewald Brevis (MI) - 5%