Shami is only Indian in Top 8 of MVPI list; de Kock rules

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji's Most Valuable Player Index after the South Africa ODIs presents a depressing story of the Indian players' showing in the first half of the ongoing tour 

It was the kind of ODI series that made you wonder how did this Indian team win both, the World Cup and Champions Trophy.

The unflattering answer is that you are often only a champion of conditions, not the game itself.

Quinton de Kock had a few points to prove in the just-concluded three-match One-Day International series against India: that he could score a lot of runs, that he was a better selection than Graeme Smith, and that he must be really lucky to be just lucky and score three consecutive centuries.

With a series aggregate of 342 runs, at a strike rate just below 100, de Kock was the series’ most valuable player with a MVPI of 427!

The most valuable player index (MVPI) formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate and bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate, and expresses a player’s overall batting + bowling + fielding performance in terms of a ‘run equivalent’.

It is heart-warming that India’s Mohammed Shami, with nine wickets, is second in the rankings. If he had bowled with a better economy rate his MVPI would have crossed 300.

But Shami is the only Indian in the top eight of the MVPI list. Otherwise, it was a monumental drubbing.

Table 1 lists the MVPI of all the players who played in the ODI series.

Looking at the table you must also wonder what’s happening to Yuvraj Singh. He did not score in his only outing and did not bowl a single ball. All he did was take one catch.

To be fair, Dhawan did nothing too, and Raina, who played like a champion in South Africa during IPL2, merely nibbled and prodded. Dear old Virender Sehwag could at least have thumped a few boundaries.

Table 1: Most valuable players in the South Africa - India series (Dec 5-11, 2013)

Runs (scored) ' 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.

Table 2, which shows India’s most valuable players in the 27 matches played so far in India’s 2013-14 season, is a reminder of how good the Indians have been this season.

So what went wrong? Blame it on the bounce. It would have been more benign if we hadn’t had the BCCI-CSA spat.

Table 2: India’s most valuable players in the 2013-14 ODI season (27 matches played; 1 abandoned) 

Runs (scored) ' Fours ' Sixes ' Strike rate ' Batting points ' W: Wickets taken ' Eco: Economy rate ' Bowling points ' Fielding points ' 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

Image: Quinton de Kock of South Africa celebrates his third consecutive century during the third Momentum ODI against India at SuperSport Park

Photograph: Duif du Toit/Gallo Images/Getty Images