2017 ICC awards: Five contenders for ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year award

The International Cricket Council is set to announce the winners of 2017 ICC awards soon, it is likely that Indian captain Virat Kohli is set for a clean sweep of the awards.

One category he cannot win is the emerging player of the year as it has its own eligibility criteria for the players. A lot of players including the likes of Peter Handscomb, Yuzvendra Chahal, Fakhar Zaman, Alzarri Joseph etc. are in contention to win this award.

Criterion:

1. Players eligible for this award must be under 26 years of age at the start of the voting period and have played no more than five Tests and/or ten ODIs before that date.

2. The voting period for taking into account players' performance fell between 21 September 2016 and 21 September 2017.

Let us take a look at five possible contenders who can go on to win this award.

Shadab Khan

Shadab celebrates after dismissing Shikhar Dhawan in the ICC Champions Trophy

One of the finds for Pakistan in the last one year has been leg-spinner Shadab Khan. The 19-year-old has impressed everyone with his bowling skills and has also shown that he is a capable bat as well.

In the 12-month eligibility period, the leggie has played two Tests and picked nine wickets and adding to that, he scalped 16 and three wickets in nine ODIs and two T20Is respectively. He was also an integral part of Pakistan's Champions Trophy win in June this year.

Though he did not get any chances to prove himself with the bat in the given period, he showed the world what he is capable of with a willow in his hand during the Sri Lanka series that took place after the period was over.

Kuldeep Yadav

Kuldeep Yadav celebrates after taking a hat-trick against Australia

In spite of playing their first international match in 1932, the Indian team never had a left-arm chinaman bowler in their 84 years before Kuldeep Yadav from Uttar Pradesh made his Test debut against Australia at the HPCA stadium in Dharamsala earlier this year.

Since then, the 23-year-old has been one of India's vital cogs across all formats. His four-wicket haul on debut helped Ajinkya Rahane and co. beat Australia in the fourth Test and win the series 2-1. Three months later, he made his ODI debut against West Indies and had a memorable series in the Caribbean islands.

He took nine wickets in two Tests at an average of 2077, 16 wickets in nine ODIs at an average of 19.75 and three wickets in T20Is at 18 runs per wicket in the period. Adding to this, he became the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs when he achieved that feat in the second ODI against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Even if Kuldeep doesn't win the award this year, he is in contention to win it in 2018 if he continues his consistent performances.

Evin Lewis

Unlike the other likely candidates to win the 2017 ICC Emerging player of the year award, Evin Lewis has played only in two formats for West Indies and his contribution to the struggling team has been immense.

After making his ODI debut in October 2015, Lewis has established himself as a regular at the top of the order. The talented left-hander came into the reckoning after scoring a century against India in the first T20I in Florida just before the start of the eligibility period.

The Trinidadian scored yet another scintillating T20I ton against the same opposition in July 2017 and just after the period is over, he scored an unbeaten 174 against England in an ODI, which was one of the best ODI innings of the year. He could have easily scored another 200 if not for his foot injury.

He scored 461 runs in 21 ODIs and 361 T20I runs in 11 matches in the eligibility period.

Hardik Pandya

A frustrated Hardik Pandya after getting out in the Champions Trophy final

Over the last couple of decades, the Indian fans have been longing to see an all-rounder who is capable of winning matches for the team with both and ball. The emergence of Hardik Pandya has given the fans some hope as the 24-year-old has been consistently performing since making his debut.

In the 12-month eligibility period, Hardik, who had previously played in a handful of T20Is for India, made his ODI debut and scored 411 runs and picked up 27 wickets in the format. His 76 against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy final was one of the finest innings played by a batsman in ODIs.

His good performances in the ODIs earned him a place in the Test squad and the all-rounder repaid the faith the team management had in him by scoring 178 runs in his first three innings, including a century and a fifty.

It is certain that ICC will give the emerging player of the year award to either Pandya or Pakistan's Hasan Ali.

Hasan Ali

The favourite to win the award this year

Pakistan pacer Hasan Ali, who made a name for himself during Pakistan's tour of England in August-September 2016, has become his team's go-to bowler within one year of his international debut. In the one year eligibility period for the 2017 awards, Hasan has played 16 ODIs and 8 T20Is and ended up with 34 and 10 wickets respectively.

The 23-year-old's tally of 34 wickets that he took at an average of 20.35 is the most number of wickets taken by any bowler in the format this year. Hasan also led Pakistan to victory in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy in which he finished as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament and later went on to become the World number 1 bowler in the format.

Thanks to his performances, Hasan went on to make his Test debut against Sri Lanka earlier this year. The right-arm pacer is the clear favourite to win the ICC Emerging player of the year 2017.