After his 121 in 115 balls, Yuvraj Singh has overtaken Sachin Tendulkar in the race to be India's most valuable ODI player (MVP) of the current season.
Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly occupy positions 2-5; it is therefore rather surprising to hear that Ganguly was "dropped" for the third game.
We have considered the performances of Indian players in all the 17 ODI matches after the World Cup (one match each against Ireland and Scotland, 2 against Bangladesh, 3 against South Africa, 7 against England and 3 so far against Australia).
Table 1: India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (17 matches):
| Rank | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Bb | Rc | W | Bowl-pts | Ct | St | Run Outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| Yuvraj Singh | 598 | 670 | 660.00 | 373 | 369 | 8 | 114.20 | 5 | 1 | 49 | 17 | 823.20 |
| S Tendulkar | 637 | 798 | 635.60 | 162 | 150 | 3 | 30.00 | 3 | 0.5 | 27 | 14 | 692.60 |
| MS Dhoni | 407 | 542 | 380.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 16|5 | 2 | 178 | 15 | 558.40 |
| Rahul Dravid | 442 | 526 | 463.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 | 0.5 | 47 | 17 | 510.20 |
| S Ganguly | 395 | 560 | 342.00 | 185 | 246 | 4 | 107.80 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 12 | 478.80 |
| Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.80 | 538 | 666 | 17 | 402.80 | 8 | 0.5 | 52 | 13 | 467.60 |
| Zaheer Khan | 77 | 100 | 74.00 | 640 | 756 | 14 | 300.80 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 14 | 422.80 |
| G Gambhir | 422 | 561 | 395.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 400.20 |
| RP Singh | 13 | 27 | 4.40 | 432 | 546 | 13 | 316.80 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 11 | 338.20 |
| Ramesh Powar | 46 | 78 | 29.60 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286.00 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 211 | 191.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 11 | 0.5 | 77 | 12 | 268.20 |
| Robin Uthappa | 165 | 158 | 203.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 5 | 242.60 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.60 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.20 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 233.80 |
| Sreesanth | 8 | 37 | -13.60 | 244 | 258 | 11 | 226.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 222.80 |
| Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.40 | 208 | 216 | 6 | 108.80 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 113.40 |
| Irfan Pathan | 4 | 11 | -0.80 | 142 | 168 | 4 | 88.40 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 92.60 |
| Virender Sehwag | 51 | 47 | 64.40 | 46 | 48 | 1 | 16.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 90.80 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.20 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.60 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 23 | 32 | 20.40 | 95 | 120 | 0 | 1.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21.40 |
| Rohit Sharma | 9 | 13 | 7.60 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1.80 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 19.40 |
| Ishant Sharma | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 38 | 42 | 0 | -4.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4.40 |
Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points) ?= sum of batting, bowling and fielding points |
*Run outs are counted as 1 (wicket) for a direct hit, and 0.5 (wicket) if the fielder is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.
Table 2 lists the most valuable players so far in the India-Australia list. Michael Clarke heads the combined list, followed by Andrew Symonds and Yuvraj Singh.
Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the India-Australia series (3 matches):
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| 1 | Michael Clarke | 216 | 241 | 239.20 | 35 | 54 | 2 | 56.20 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 3 | 307.40 |
| 2 | Andrew Symonds | 183 | 157 | 240.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 245.40 |
| 3 | Yuvraj Singh | 131 | 125 | 162.00 | 99 | 96 | 2 | 25.80 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 192.80 |
| 4 | Brad Haddin | 156 | 152 | 190.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 190.40 |
| 5 | Mathew Hayden | 169 | 198 | 179.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 189.60 |
| 6 | Brad Hogg | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 86 | 111 | 6 | 146.80 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 3 | 163.80 |
| 7 | S Sreesanth | 8 | 37 | -13.60 | 180 | 168 | 8 | 146.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 142.80 |
| 8 | James Hopes | 52 | 40 | 72.00 | 76 | 102 | 2 | 53.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 125.60 |
| 9 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 91 | 125 | 82.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 107.00 |
| 10 | Zaheer Khan | 6 | 18 | -2.40 | 180 | 180 | 5 | 84.00 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 3 | 105.60 |
| 11 | Mitchell Johnson | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 98 | 120 | 4 | 94.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 99.00 |
| 12 | Irfan Pathan | 4 | 11 | -0.80 | 142 | 168 | 4 | 88.40 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 92.60 |
| 13 | Stuart Clark | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 58 | 88 | 3 | 84.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 84.40 |
| 14 | Brett Lee | 2 | 2 | 2.40 | 85 | 100 | 3 | 67.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 74.40 |
| 15 | Robin Uthappa | 41 | 33 | 55.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 60.60 |
| 16 | Adam Gilchrist | 41 | 47 | 44.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | 59.40 |
| 17 | Sachin Tendulkar | 59 | 102 | 36.40 | 44 | 42 | 0 | -10.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 36.00 |
| 18 | Rahul Dravid | 31 | 52 | 20.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 30.40 |
| 19 | Harbhajan Singh | 23 | 32 | 20.40 | 95 | 120 | 0 | 1.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21.40 |
| 20 | Ricky Ponting | 25 | 43 | 15.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15.60 |
| 21 | Gautam Gambhir | 17 | 34 | 6.80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6.80 |
| 22 | Sourav Ganguly | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| 23 | Rohit Sharma | 1 | 4 | -1.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1.20 |
| 24 | Brad Hodge | 6 | 22 | -5.60 | 18 | 12 | 0 | -8.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | -4.00 |
| 25 | Ramesh Powar | 17 | 18 | 19.60 | 80 | 66 | 0 | -27.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -7.60 |
| 26 | R P Singh | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 67 | 60 | 0 | -19.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -19.00 |
Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points)? = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points | *Run outs are counted as 1 (wicket) for a direct hit, and 0.5 (wicket) if the fielder is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.
We will update this list after the India-Australia series ends.
Srinivas Bhogle, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.