The Indian Premier League has built careers. The tournament saw names like Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma debut as young players and become superstars in their own right. This blog will look at the winners of IPL emerging player of the year award who captained franchises later in their career. Who will win the Emerging Player of the Year award in the 2024 season? Predict and earn big rewards on anIPL betting platform in the upcoming IPL season.
Emerging IPL Players Who Became Franchise Captains
The IPL has been around for a long time now. The tournament has grown into one of the biggest sports leagues in the world since its launch in 2008. Here are the four players who went onto become captains after getting the award of the Emerging Players.
- Rohit Sharma – IPL 2009 Emerging Player
- Sanju Samson – IPL 2013 Emerging Player
- Shreyas Iyer – IPL 2015 Emerging Player
- Rishabh Pant – IPL 2018 Emerging Player
Rohit Sharma:
Rohit was less popular than Kohli back when IPL began. Cricket fans started noticing him when he slammed 21 runs off just six balls against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2009. The Mumbai-born batter won the Emerging Player award the same year.
His consistent run with the bat saw him picked by the Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2011. Two years later, he led the franchise to its IPL triumph. It began the Mumbai outfit’s dominance in the IPL. Rohit, who became an explosive opening batter, guided the franchise to four more trophies. Hardik Pandya has replaced the ‘Hitman’ as the new MI skipper. However, Rohit will always be remembered as the skipper who made MI a champion team.
Rishabh Pant:
The youngster from Roorkee in the northern state of Uttarakhand made rapid strides, especially after he won the Emerging Player Award in 2018. He made his IPL debut in 2016 for Delhi Daredevils at 18. Within two years, he won the Emerging Player of the Award after scoring 684 runs in the 2018 edition.
It didn’t take long for the captaincy appointment for the youngster. Pant was named the skipper of Delhi Capitals from appearing in the 2021 season. Under the wicketkeeper-batter’s captaincy, Delhi Capitals made it to the playoffs. The franchise gave him the armband permanently after Iyer left for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022.
Shreyas Iyer
Iyer won the Emerging Player of the year award in his maiden IPL season. He had an excellent season with the bat despite a poor season for Delhi Daredevils. A string of consistent performances saw him being appointed Daredevils captain in 2018.
Under his leadership, the Delhi outfit’s fortunes changed. Iyer guided them to playoffs in the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He led from the front, scoring 400-plus runs in both seasons. Ahead of the 2022 mega auction, Iyer was let go by the franchise. However, Kolkata Knight Riders secured his services and appointed him the captain.
Sanju Samson:
The classy batter from Kerala played IPL for the first time in 2013. At Rajasthan Royals, he showed plenty of promise. Samson made progress under the watchful eyes of Rahul Dravid, who was plying his trade with the franchise. After Rajasthan Royals was banned, he moved to Delhi Daredevils, where he produced delightful knocks in two seasons.
In 2021, he took over the captaincy from Steve Smith. Though they struggled that season and finished a disappointing seventh, the franchise reached the final in the 2022 edition, where they lost to Gujarat Titans in the final.
