South Africans take the top 3 slots in Most Valuable Player Index.
It seemed to be an evenly matched series till the South African trio of 'De-De-Du' defeated, deflated and dumped India in the fifth and final One-Day International in Mumbai, on Sunday.
AB de Villiers, in particular, demolished India as he finished with a huge haul of 358 runs with 20 sixes and 20 fours in the five-match series. And because de Villiers scored at a strike rate of almost 135, his most valuable player index (MVPI) zoomed to 509.
The MVPI formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate, and fielders who take the most catches or participate in run outs. MVPI expresses a player’s overall batting + bowling + fielding performance in terms of a 'run equivalent'.
Table 1: Most valuable players in the India vs South Africa ODI series (October 11-25, 2015)
| Rank | Player | Team | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | W | Eco | M | MVPI |
| 1 | AB de Villiers | SA | 358 | 20 | 20 | 134.6 | 0 | - | 5 | 509 |
| 2 | Quinton de Kock | SA | 318 | 44 | 3 | 102.9 | 0 | - | 5 | 421 |
| 3 | Faf du Plessis | SA | 323 | 27 | 7 | 93.6 | 0 | - | 5 | 364 |
| 4 | Ajinkya Rahane | IND | 247 | 24 | 3 | 93.9 | 0 | - | 5 | 315 |
| 5 | MS Dhoni | IND | 212 | 17 | 4 | 95.5 | 0 | - | 5 | 307 |
| 6 | Rohit Sharma | IND | 255 | 27 | 8 | 99.6 | 0 | - | 5 | 297 |
| 7 | Dale Steyn | SA | 31 | 2 | 2 | 96.9 | 10 | 5.7 | 5 | 291 |
| 8 | Kagiso Rabada | SA | 27 | 4 | 0 | 84.4 | 10 | 5.1 | 5 | 276 |
| 9 | Virat Kohli | IND | 245 | 11 | 6 | 87.2 | 0 | 6.4 | 5 | 273 |
| 10 | Morne Morkel | SA | 4 | 1 | 0 | 200 | 7 | 4.4 | 3 | 204 |
| 11 | Harbhajan Singh | IND | 42 | 3 | 1 | 95.5 | 6 | 5.3 | 4 | 185 |
| 12 | Imran Tahir | SA | 13 | 0 | 1 | 59.1 | 7 | 5.6 | 5 | 165 |
| 13 | Axar Patel | IND | 37 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 5 | 5.3 | 4 | 152 |
| 14 | F Behardien | SA | 124 | 6 | 4 | 91.2 | 1 | 6.2 | 5 | 152 |
| 15 | Shikhar Dhawan | IND | 126 | 19 | 0 | 76.4 | 0 | - | 5 | 132 |
| 16 | Suresh Raina | IND | 68 | 4 | 2 | 90.7 | 1 | 6.2 | 5 | 114 |
| 17 | David Miller | SA | 74 | 8 | 0 | 84.1 | 0 | - | 5 | 105 |
| 18 | Hashim Amla | SA | 89 | 11 | 0 | 78.1 | 0 | - | 5 | 93 |
| 19 | B Kumar | IND | 16 | 1 | 0 | 38.1 | 7 | 7.1 | 5 | 86 |
| 20 | Amit Mishra | IND | 4 | 1 | 0 | 57.1 | 4 | 5.5 | 4 | 84 |
| 21 | J P Duminy | SA | 65 | 4 | 1 | 84.4 | 1 | 6.7 | 3 | 70 |
| 22 | Mohit Sharma | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6.9 | 4 | 66 |
| 23 | Umesh Yadav | IND | 4 | 1 | 0 | 133.3 | 3 | 6.8 | 2 | 48 |
| 24 | R Ashwin | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 3 | 1 | 34 |
| 25 | Chris Morris | SA | 9 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 1 | 6.1 | 1 | 23 |
| 26 | Kyle Abbott | SA | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 5.6 | 1 | 21 |
| 27 | Aaron Phangiso | SA | 20 | 1 | 0 | 90.9 | 0 | 5.7 | 1 | 16 |
| 28 | Dean Elgar | SA | 5 | 1 | 0 | 250 | 0 | - | 1 | 8 |
| 29 | Stuart Binny | IND | 2 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0 | 7.9 | 1 | -23 |
Runs (scored) ' No of 4s ' No of 6s ' Strike rate ' W: Wickets taken ' Eco: Economy rate ' M: Matches played ' MVPI: Most valuable player index = 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.
It hasn’t been a great ODI 2015-16 season for India. Ajinkya Rahane (483) currently has the highest MVPI, but Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma aren’t too far behind. Virat Kohli (319) has only had a modest season given his ability and potential, and R Ashwin (220) is still to get into the grove as he battles injury. Shikhar Dhawan(311) hasn’t done enough to take his opening slot for granted, and it is a puzzle as to why the selectors aren’t looking at the Murali Vijay opener option.
Table 2: India’s most valuable player this season
| Rank | Player name | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | W | Eco | M | MVPI |
| 1 | Ajinkya Rahane | 368 | 38 | 3 | 83.3 | 0 | - | 9 | 483 |
| 2 | MS Dhoni | 333 | 26 | 5 | 87.4 | 0 | - | 8 | 439 |
| 3 | Rohit Sharma | 347 | 33 | 10 | 97.7 | 0 | - | 8 | 426 |
| 4 | Suresh Raina | 180 | 11 | 6 | 94.2 | 4 | 5.5 | 8 | 342 |
| 5 | Harbhajan Singh | 47 | 3 | 1 | 97.9 | 10 | 4.6 | 7 | 342 |
| 6 | B Kumar | 44 | 3 | 1 | 60.3 | 14 | 5.7 | 10 | 332 |
| 7 | Virat Kohli | 294 | 15 | 7 | 84.7 | 0 | 6.2 | 8 | 319 |
| 8 | Stuart Binny | 139 | 13 | 3 | 119.8 | 7 | 6.2 | 5 | 311 |
| 9 | Shikhar Dhawan | 284 | 39 | 0 | 84.5 | 0 | - | 8 | 311 |
| 10 | Ambati Rayudu | 209 | 18 | 1 | 88.9 | 1 | 2.5 | 4 | 257 |
| 11 | R Ashwin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 36.4 | 7 | 3.8 | 4 | 220 |
| 12 | Akshar Patel | 13 | 0 | 1 | 118.2 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 213 |
| 13 | Kedar Jadhav | 126 | 14 | 1 | 111.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 163 |
| 14 | Axar Patel | 37 | 0 | 2 | 74 | 5 | 5.3 | 4 | 152 |
| 15 | Mohit Sharma | 11 | 2 | 0 | 45.8 | 8 | 7.1 | 6 | 124 |
| 16 | Dhawal Kulkarni | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 5 | 5.3 | 4 | 122 |
| 17 | Murali Vijay | 86 | 3 | 2 | 68.8 | 1 | 6.2 | 3 | 91 |
| 18 | Amit Mishra | 4 | 1 | 0 | 57.1 | 4 | 5.5 | 4 | 84 |
| 19 | Ravindra Jadeja | 51 | 3 | 0 | 75 | 1 | 5.1 | 2 | 79 |
| 20 | Manish Pandey | 71 | 4 | 1 | 82.6 | 0 | - | 1 | 70 |
| 21 | Umesh Yadav | 6 | 1 | 0 | 42.9 | 5 | 7.1 | 4 | 61 |
| 22 | Robin Uthappa | 44 | 4 | 0 | 75.9 | 0 | - | 3 | 60 |
| 23 | Manoj Tiwary | 34 | 0 | 1 | 46.6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 11 |
Runs (scored) ' No of 4s ' No of 6s ' Strike rate ' W: Wickets taken ' Eco: Economy rate ' M: Matches played ' MVPI: Most valuable player index = 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.