Tendulkar is still India's most valuable player

Sachin Tendulkar's wonderful run in the 2007-08 ODI season continues. As the Commonwealth Bank Series gets underway, he is comfortably ahead of Yuvraj Singh. In fact if Yuvraj's woeful form continues he will soon lose even his second place to Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Recall that players get the most batting points if they score a lot of runs - and score them quickly; the most bowling points if they take a lot of wickets - and bowl economically; and the most fielding points if they take a lot of catches or participate in the largest number of run outs. The player with the largest total of batting, bowling and fielding points is called the "most valuable (ODI) player".

This scheme usually favours all-rounders; also the more matches you play, the more points you can amass. But our experience suggests that it spots the most valuable players rather well; players with the best ranks usually go on to win the most 'man of the match' or 'man of the series' awards.

Table 1: India's most valuable players of the 2007-08 season (30 matches so far)

Rank	Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
1	Sachin Tendulkar	1236	1505	1268	268	258	5	58.4	7	0.5	47	27	1373
2	Yuvraj Singh	942	1142	970.4	476	483	11	174	7	2.5	95	29	1240
3	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	850	1076	839.2	0	0	0	0	25|12	4.5	353	28	1192
4	Gautam Gambhir	760	985	732	0	0	0	0	2	0	10	22	742
5	Sourav Ganguly	611	850	542	300	348	5	98.4	1	1	29	20	669
6	Zaheer Khan	148	208	129.6	1000	1160	22	456	2	2.5	70	22	656
7	R P Singh	26	55	8	788	885	24	496	2	2	58	18	562
8	Rahul Dravid	462	554	480.8	0	0	0	0	10	0.5	62	20	543
9	Robin Uthappa	327	322	396.4	0	0	0	0	6	2	78	18	474
10	Piyush Chawla	20	34	12.8	538	666	17	403	8	0.5	52	13	468
11	Harbhajan Singh	128	138	145.6	473	636	9	252	5	0	25	14	422
12	Irfan Pathan	170	246	143.2	631	695	14	261	3	0	15	16	419
13	S Sreesanth	22	56	-0.8	456	458	20	390	3	0	15	11	405
14	Ramesh Powar	46	78	29.6	528	668	10	246	2	0	10	13	286
15	Murali Kartik	37	48	35.6	300	377	10	242	0	0	0	7	277
16	Dinesh Karthik	180	217	186.4	0	0	0	0	12|1	0.5	82	13	268
17	Ajit Agarkar	19	38	7.6	415	414	12	204	2	0.5	22	8	234
18	Virender Sehwag	193	224	206.8	121	126	1	3.8	3	0	15	9	226
19	Rohit Sharma	199	244	202.8	3	6	0	1.8	4	0	20	8	225
20	Ishant Sharma	1	1	1.2	109	133	6	141	1	0	5	5	148
21	Munaf Patel	1	3	-0.4	208	216	6	109	1	0	5	5	113
22	Dinesh Mongia	34	41	35.2	106	108	3	52.4	0	0	0	2	87.6
23	Praveen Kumar	12	13	13.6	50	60	0	-2	0	0	0	1	11.6
24	Manoj Tiwari	0	16	-12.8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	-12.8

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.

The next table lists the most valuable players so far in the ongoing Australia-India-Sri Lanka tri-series. Since India has featured in four of the five matches played so far, Indian players are currently more highly ranked. But things will even out as the series progresses.

Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the Commonwealth Bank series (5 matches so far)

Rank	Player	Country	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
1	Gautam Gambhir	Ind	197	228	211.6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	211.6
2	Brett Lee	Aus	10	37	-9.6	103	150	7	185	2	12	22	3	197.4
3	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Ind	173	236	157.2	0	0	0	0	6|1	0	40	4	197.2
4	Nathan Bracken	Aus	1	9	-5.2	137	165	7	163	0	0	0	3	157.8
5	Ishant Sharma	Ind	1	1	1.2	71	91	6	145.8	1	0	5	4	152
6	Rohit Sharma	Ind	138	170	140	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	4	145
7	Mitchell Johnson	Aus	3	8	-0.4	66	144	4	145.2	0	0	0	3	144.8
8	Sachin Tendulkar	Ind	121	153	119.6	21	24	0	-1.8	2	0	10	4	127.8
9	TM Dilshan	SL	76	69	96.8	8	6	0	-3.2	2	12	22	3	115.6
10	Harbhajan Singh	Ind	27	19	38.8	34	72	2	71.6	0	0	0	4	110.4
11	Michael Clarke	Aus	90	121	83.2	17	36	0	11.8	3	0	15	3	110
12	S Sreesanth	Ind	4	3	5.6	96	92	5	97.6	0	0	0	4	103.2
13	James Hopes	Aus	51	41	69.2	32	66	0	20.8	0	0	0	2	90
14	Adam Gilchrist	Aus	75	101	69.2	0	0	0	0	4|0	0	20	3	89.2
15	Michael Hussey	Aus	75	101	69.2	0	0	0	0	1	12	17	3	86.2
16	KC Sangakkara	SL	52	51	63.2	0	0	0	0	2|0	12	22	3	85.2
17	Mathew Hayden	Aus	67	71	77.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	2	82.2
18	MKDI Amerasinghe	SL	0	4	-3.2	96	120	3	72	0	0	0	2	68.8
19	Virender Sehwag	Ind	64	84	60.8	38	42	0	-4.4	1	0	5	4	61.4
20	M Muralitharan	SL	11	14	10.8	129	150	2	39	2	0	10	3	59.8
21	Irfan Pathan	Ind	39	70	22	79	84	2	36.2	0	0	0	4	58.2
22	DPMD Jayawardene	SL	42	51	43.2	0	0	0	0	3	0	15	3	58.2
23	SL Malinga	SL	2	10	-4	156	162	3	45.6	0	12	12	3	53.6
24	Andrew Symonds	Aus	31	47	24.4	23	23	0	-4.6	1	24	29	3	48.8
25	Stuart Clark	Aus	0	1	-0.8	26	60	1	46	0	0	0	1	45.2
26	WPUJC Vaas	SL	18	30	12	145	156	2	27.8	0	0	0	3	39.8
27	CK Kapugedera	SL	0	2	-1.6	77	96	1	23.8	1	12	17	3	39.2
28	ST Jayasuriya	SL	34	26	47.2	24	18	0	-9.6	0	0	0	3	37.6
29	Brad Hogg	Aus	0	0	0	17	36	1	35.8	0	0	0	1	35.8
30	Ricky Ponting	Aus	18	39	4.8	0	0	0	0	1	24	29	3	33.8
31	Ashley Noffke	Aus	0	0	0	46	54	1	21.2	0	0	0	1	21.2
32	KMDN Kulasekara	SL	0	0	0	41	36	1	11.8	1	0	5	1	16.8
33	MF Maharoof	SL	0	0	0	36	30	1	12	0	0	0	1	12
34	WU Tharanga	SL	10	18	5.6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5.6
35	Robin Uthappa	Ind	5	13	-0.4	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	4	4.6
36	Yuvraj Singh	Ind	11	28	-0.4	11	12	0	-1.4	0	0	0	3	-1.8
37	LPC Silva	SL	7	32	-11.6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	-11.6
38	Manoj Tiwari	Ind		16	-12.8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	-12.8
39	Brad Haddin	Aus	5	31	-14.8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	-14.8

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

 

Srinivas Bhogle and Debasish Ghosh work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.