IPL: Who's not <i>paisa vasool</i> so far?

Shane Warne was pretty blunt when he stated that the Rajasthan Royals' top order batsmen have to fire. One guesses that he was referring to Graeme Smith, although Swapnil Asnodkar too is discovering that it is not easy to tee off on South African pitches.

Who's not paisa vasool?

Here is a list of cricketers who are not offering value for money so far in the second season of the Indian Premier League. We must note, however, that a couple of good knocks or good spells can quickly change numbers. It turns out that South African captain Smith is indeed currently the least paisa vasool.

Player	Team	From	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	Age
Graeme Smith	RR	SA	19	50.0	0	--	3	-6	475000	-23442	28
Ajit Agarkar	KKR	IND	8	200.0	0	15.5	2	-5	330000	-16971	31
Zaheer Khan	MI	IND	6	66.7	0	8.3	2	6	450000	14400	30
VVS Laxman	DC	IND	15	71.4	0	--	3	8	375000	10369	34
Manoj Tiwary	DD	IND	9	69.2	0	11.0	2	13	675000	10189	23
Tyron Henderson	RR	SA	11	73.3	1	7.5	1	18	650000	8650	34
Moises Henriques	KKR	AUS	6	75.0	1	9.1	2	10	300000	7526	22
Gautam Gambhir	DD	IND	31	93.9	0	--	3	21	725000	7487	27
Murali Kartik	KKR	IND	10	100.0	0	6.0	2	19	425000	5752	32
MS Dhoni	CSK	IND	57	121.3	0	--	3	75	1500000	5447	27
B McCullum	KKR	NZ	25	89.3	0	--	2	38	700000	4737	27
Jacques Kallis	BRC	SA	101	126.3	1	12.3	4	69	900000	4505	33
K Pietersen	BRC	ENG	80	109.6	3	6.8	5	128	1550000	4316	28
Jacob Oram	CSK	NZ	8	133.3	1	7.5	1	39	675000	4258	30
Albie Morkel	CSK	SA	18	105.9	2	8.8	2	41	650000	4102	27
A Flintoff	CSK	ENG	62	117.0	2	9.5	3	81	1550000	4088	31
Robin Uthappa	BRC	IND	38	71.7	0	--	5	40	800000	7098	23

It is no coincidence that most of the names come from teams that have not started well: Bangalore Royal Challengers (BRC), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Who are the best batsmen so far in IPL 2?

Although IPL's orange cap is awarded to the batsman scoring the largest number of runs, it really makes more sense to look at a batsman who has scored the largest number of runs and at the highest strike rate.

The table below lists the top batsmen. Matthew Hayden tops the list based on this dual criterion.

Player	Team	From	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	Bat Pts	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	Age
M Hayden	CSK	AUS	166	97	171.1	210.8	3	223	375000	457	37
AB de Villiers	DD	SA	126	77	163.6	155.8	3	179	300000	360	25
Rahul Dravid	BRC	IND	144	106	135.8	155.5	4	175	1035000	2034	36
Adam Gilchrist	DC	AUS	119	76	156.6	143.0	3	179	700000	840	37
Tillakaratne Dilshan	DD	SL	117	74	158.1	141.5	3	154	250000	349	32
Ravi Bopara	KXI	ENG	132	105	125.7	132.8	4	142	450000	907	24
K Sangakkara	KXI	SL	120	104	115.4	110.0	4	122	700000	1639	31
Jacques Kallis	BRC	SA	101	80	126.3	102.0	4	69	900000	4505	33
Chris Gayle	KKR	WI	95	71	133.8	101.3	3	110	800000	1970	29
Yuvraj Singh	KXI	IND	86	59	145.8	98.3	4	103	1063750	2958	27
Sachin Tendulkar	MI	IND	95	76	125.0	95.0	2	99	1121250	2265	36
Irfan Pathan	KXI	IND	77	57	135.1	82.8	4	151	925000	1753	24
Herschelle Gibbs	DC	SA	71	51	139.2	78.3	3	90	575000	1365	35
Virat Kohli	BRC	IND	88	80	110.0	76.0	5	98	300000	1093	20
Suresh Raina	CSK	IND	77	65	118.5	72.8	3	84	650000	2094	22
K Pietersen	BRC	ENG	80	73	109.6	68.8	5	128	1550000	4316	28
Rohit Sharma	DC	IND	55	35	157.1	66.3	3	89	750000	1811	22

Who are the best bowlers so far in IPL2?

IPL's purple cap, awarded to the bowler who takes the largest number of wickets, too should really be given to the bowler with most wickets and lowest economy rate.

It turns out that Deccan Chargers pacer RP Singh still tops the list based on this dual criterion.

Player	Team	From	Bb	Rc	W	Eco	Bowl Pts	M	MVPI	Money offered ($)	PVI	Age
RP Singh	DC	IND	70	66	8	5.7	141.5	3	145	875000	1298	23
Anil Kumble	BRC	IND	115	111	6	5.8	122.8	5	134	500000	1338	38
Pragyan Ojha	DC	IND	72	62	6	5.2	118.0	3	116	30000	56	22
Lasith Malinga	MI	SL	48	34	6	4.3	116.0	2	116	350000	603	25
Kamran Khan	RR	IND	66	54	5	4.9	103.5	3	119	30000	69	18
Yusuf Abdulla	KXI	SA	66	91	7	8.3	96.5	4	97	30000	89	26
Daniel Vettori	DD	NZ	66	79	6	7.2	93.5	3	109	625000	1234	30
L Balaji	CSK	IND	38	37	5	5.8	85.5	2	90	30000	86	27
D Mascarenhas	RR	ENG	72	78	4	6.5	72.0	3	95	100000	285	31
Scott Styris	DC	NZ	48	64	5	8.0	71.0	2	89	175000	393	33
Praveen Kumar	BRC	IND	90	117	5	7.8	70.5	4	112	300000	918	22
Shane Warne	RR	AUS	72	80	4	6.7	70.0	3	97	450000	1259	39
Irfan Pathan	KXI	IND	72	97	5	8.1	68.0	4	151	925000	1753	24
Piyush Chawla	KXI	IND	65	61	3	5.6	65.3	4	68	400000	1675	20
Munaf Patel	RR	IND	60	85	5	8.5	65.0	3	71	275000	1059	25
Fidel Edwards	DC	WI	72	72	3	6.0	63.0	3	65	150000	496	27
M Muralitharan	CSK	SL	42	37	3	5.3	60.5	2	59	600000	2604	37

Finally, another curious facet of IPL second season so far has been that teams have generally chosen to play with the same playing eleven in most of the matches -- although they have shuffled the odd foreign player.

Hence, there are a large number of expensive passengers that all teams are carrying. Perhaps that is why they are choosing to offload a few excess players. But why must these always be Indian players?

Based on the detailed IPL1 analysis carried out by Purnendu Maji in 2008. The paisa vasool index uses a model developed by M J Manohar Rao and Rajeeva L Karandikar.

IPL: Who's not paisa vasool so far?

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