3 IPL emerging player of the year awardees no one remembers now

Extremely talented players fading away from the giant scheme of things is not something that the sporting world is not aware of. There is an endless list of talented Indian youngsters who could not make use of their talent and hence faded away from the picture. We remember names like Ajitesh Argal or Vijay Zol who once used to make headlines.

If we have a look at the list of IPL emerging players awardees, we will see only one name amongst the ten who is a vital member of the current Indian team. We will find other names who are called to the team when the need arises, but in this list, we will have a look at 3 emerging player awardees who completely fizzed out from the picture:

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#3 Saurabh Tiwary

Tiwary is yet to play a match for MI in IPL 2018

It was way back in 2010 when a 20-year-old from Jamshedpur, Bihar mesmerized the cricketing fraternity with his amazing performances with the bat. With a well-built stature and long hair that was quite the talk of the town back then after MS Dhoni made it a fashion statement, Tiwary looked promising and as newspapers would describe, 'one for the future'.

He rightfully won the emerging player of the year award, which was called the best U-23 player award back then, by scoring 419 runs in 16 games at an average of nearly 30 and a strike rate of 135. Owing to his brilliant performances, Royal Challengers Bangalore spent USD 1.6 million to acquire his services.

However, his career then took a downtown path and saw no sign of hope until recently, when he got an INR 80 lakhs contract from his former team Mumbai Indians owing to his good domestic form. However, Tiwary has not played a match for MI this year and is not likely to play one. His chapter may well be closed and though he is still hanging in there, he might not make the headlines ever again.

#2 Shreevats Goswami

Goswami was the first recipient of the emerging player of the year award

An 18-year-old technically sound cricketer won the first IPL award given out to a young player, which was then called best U-19 player. The Adam Gilchrist fan scored 152 runs in the ICC U-19 World Cup which earned him a Royal Challengers Bangalore contract. Though he got only 4 chances, it was enough to prove his class.

The Kolkatan scored 82 runs in those games at an average of over 25, which got him the prized award. But his career never quite took off as it was expected to and his average performances did not help his cause. As a result, Goswami found himself without an IPL contract until this season.

Goswami had a marvellous Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2017/18 in which he scored 373 runs in 8 games to be the 4th highest scorer of the tournament. Though he must have been expecting a contract, an INR 1 crore contract was not seen coming. Goswami is now in Sunrisers Hyderabad squad, acting as a second fiddle to his Bengal teammate Wriddhiman Saha.

#1 Iqbal Abdullah

Iqbal Abdullah was instrumental in KKR's first title triumph in 2012

In 2011, the award to honour the best young talent of the tournament was named as rising star of the year. Iqbal Abdullah was hence IPL's first official rising star of the year and even the first spinner to receive the age group award.

Abdullah, who was 21-years-old when he received the award, took 16 wickets in 15 games for a renovated Kolkata Knight Riders side and maintained an economy rate of around 6 runs per over.

Iqqi, as he is called, played an instrumental role in KKR's first title triumph in 2012. Though he did not pick up as many wickets this time, he kept a strong check on his economy rate and was Gambhir's trusted warrior to stop leakage of runs. The Azamgarh-born player's economy rate kept increasing ever since and reached the 11 runs per over mark last year.

Hence, he does not have a fairytale comeback story like the previous two mentions. Just as expected, he found no takers in the auction. He is now competing in local tournaments and wants to make a comeback to franchise-based cricket's biggest stage next year.