Yuvraj closing in on Sachin

After his knock of 76 in 70 balls at Adelaide, Yuvraj Singh (rank 2) has now reduced the gap between him and Sachin Tendulkar (rank 1) in the race to be this season's most valuable Indian ODI player. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (rank 3), with his calm batting and good wicket-keeping, is just behind the top two.

Gautam Gambhir (4) and Irfan Pathan (7) are climbing steadily. Robin Uthappa (10), who has done nothing worthwhile in his Australian outings, is still in the top 10 because of a strong early season performance.

Table 1: India's most valuable players of the 2007-08 season (32 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	1241	1522	1264.4	268	258	5	58.4	7	0.5	47	29	1369.8
2	Yuvraj Singh	1044	1256	1083.2	503	513	11	171.4	7	2.5	95	31	1349.6
3	M S Dhoni	937	1194	918.8	0	0	0	0	29|13	5	395	30	1313.8
4	Gautam Gambhir	809	1061	769.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	10	24	779.2
5	Sourav Ganguly	611	850	542	300	348	5	98.4	1	1	29	20	669.4
6	Zaheer Khan	148	208	129.6	1000	1160	22	456	2	2.5	70	22	655.6
7	Irfan Pathan	215	317	176.4	716	815	19	392	3	0	15	18	583.4
8	R P Singh	26	55	8	788	885	24	496	2	2	58	18	562
9	Rahul Dravid	462	554	480.8	0	0	0	0	10	0.5	62	20	542.8
10	Robin Uthappa	355	386	401.2	0	0	0	0	8	2	88	20	489.2
11	Harbhajan Singh	135	150	150	567	756	11	301.8	5	0.5	37	16	488.8
12	Piyush Chawla	20	34	12.8	538	666	17	402.8	8	0.5	52	13	467.6
13	S Sreesanth	23	60	-2	491	506	20	393.8	3	0	15	12	406.8
14	Ramesh Powar	46	78	29.6	528	668	10	246.4	2	0	10	13	286
15	Murali Kartik	37	48	35.6	300	377	10	241.6	0	0	0	7	277.2
16	Rohit Sharma	224	283	221.6	3	6	0	1.8	5	1	49	10	272.4
17	Dinesh Karthik	180	217	186.4	0	0	0	0	12|1	0.5	82	13	268.4
18	Ajit Agarkar	19	38	7.6	415	414	12	204.2	2	0.5	22	8	233.8
19	Virender Sehwag	193	224	206.8	121	126	1	3.8	3	0	15	9	225.6
20	Ishant Sharma	3	13	-4.4	185	247	8	204.6	2	0	10	7	210.2
21	Munaf Patel	1	12	-7.6	277	324	8	174.2	1	1	29	7	195.6
22	Dinesh Mongia	34	41	35.2	106	108	3	52.4	0	0	0	2	87.6
23	Praveen Kumar	18	21	19.2	99	120	0	-3	1	1	29	2	45.2
24	Manoj Tiwari		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.

Three wicket-keepers and two left-arm pace men are currently the five best performers in the Commonwealth Bank Australia-India-Sri Lanka tri-series. Mitchell Johnson has 10 wickets to Nathan Bracken's 12; but he's ahead because of a better economy rate and marginally better batting.

Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the Commonwealth Bank series (8 matches so far)

Rank	Player	Country	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
1	Mitchell Johnson	Aus	12	22	6.4	137	264	10	314.2	0	0	0	5	320.6
2	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	Ind	260	354	236.8	0	0	0	0	10|2	0.5	82	6	318.8
3	KC Sangakkara	SL	260	320	264	0	0	0	0	4|1	0.5	42	5	306
4	Nathan Bracken	Aus	2	17	-9.6	179	257	12	314.6	0	0	0	5	305
5	Adam Gilchrist	Aus	208	250	216	0	0	0	0	9|1	0	55	5	271
6	Gautam Gambhir	Ind	246	304	248.8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	248.8
7	Irfan Pathan	Ind	84	141	55.2	164	204	7	167.2	0	0	0	6	222.4
8	James Hopes	Aus	72	64	92.8	74	156	3	122.8	1	0	5	4	220.6
9	Ishant Sharma	Ind	3	13	-4.4	147	205	8	209	2	0	10	6	214.6
10	Brett Lee	Aus	12	43	-10.4	152	201	8	200.8	2	0.5	22	4	212.4
11	Michael Clarke	Aus	212	298	185.6	17	36	0	11.8	3	0	15	5	212.4
12	SL Malinga	SL	7	28	-8.4	240	280	9	200	0	0.5	12	5	203.6
13	Rohit Sharma	Ind	163	209	158.8	0	0	0	0	2	1	34	6	192.8
14	Harbhajan Singh	Ind	34	31	43.2	128	192	4	121.6	0	0.5	12	6	176.8
15	Brad Hogg	Aus	37	62	24.4	88	144	5	147.2	0	0	0	3	171.6
16	DPMD Jayawardene	SL	134	175	128	0	0	0	0	6	0	30	5	158
17	MKDI Amerasinghe	SL	11	17	8.4	145	180	6	143	0	0	0	4	151.4
18	TM Dilshan	SL	80	73	101.6	19	12	0	-9.4	2	1.5	46	4	138.2
19	Sachin Tendulkar	Ind	126	170	116	21	24	0	-1.8	2	0	10	6	124.2
20	WPUJC Vaas	SL	19	32	12.4	207	276	4	109.8	0	0	0	5	122.2
21	M Muralitharan	SL	11	14	10.8	220	270	4	92	2	0	10	5	112.8
22	Michael Hussey	Aus	105	150	90	0	0	0	0	2	0.5	22	5	112
23	Mathew Hayden	Aus	84	116	75.2	0	0	0	0	2	1	34	4	109.2
24	Yuvraj Singh	Ind	113	142	112.4	38	42	0	-4.4	0	0	0	5	108
25	S Sreesanth	Ind	5	7	4.4	131	140	5	101	0	0	0	5	105.4
26	Ricky Ponting	Aus	53	78	43.6	0	0	0	0	3	1	39	5	82.6
27	Munaf Patel	Ind	0	9	-7.2	69	108	2	65.4	0	1	24	2	82.2
28	ST Jayasuriya	SL	46	39	60.8	38	30	0	-14	1	1	29	5	75.8
29	Stuart Clark	Aus	8	10	8	59	108	1	51.4	1	0	5	2	64.4
30	Virender Sehwag	Ind	64	84	60.8	38	42	0	-4.4	1	0	5	4	61.4
31	Andrew Symonds	Aus	38	67	22.4	32	35	0	-4	3	1	39	5	57.4
32	KMDN Kulasekara	SL	0	7	-5.6	93	96	3	55.8	1	0	5	2	55.2
33	CK Kapugedera	SL	27	67	0.4	77	96	1	23.8	2	0.5	22	5	46.2
34	Praveen Kumar	Ind	6	8	5.6	49	60	0	-1	1	1	29	1	33.6
35	MF Maharoof	SL	10	20	4	132	127	2	17.6	1	0	5	3	26.6
36	Ashley Noffke	Aus	0	0	0	46	54	1	21.2	0	0	0	1	21.2
37	Robin Uthappa	SL	33	77	4.4	0	0	0	0	3	0	15	6	19.4
38	WU Tharanga	SL	10	18	5.6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5.6
39	LPC Silva	SL	28	72	-1.6	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	5	3.4
40	Brad Haddin	Aus	5	31	-14.8	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	2	-9.8
41	Manoj Tiwari	Ind		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

 

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