SPORTS

MVP: It's no surprise as Sehwag leads the pack

By Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji
September 06, 2010

It was no surprise that Virender Sehwag emerged as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Sri Lanka Triangular series recently concluded in Dambulla (featuring India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka).

See Table 1, below, for the full list.

The bigger surprise is that the next four Indian players on the list are all bowlers.

Only Mahendra Singh Dhoni, at #19, managed to bat a bit, but see where India's 'batsmen' figure on the list!

Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir will be back for the World Cup … and that will help.

But it might still be more reassuring to see Rahul Dravid's name in the squad instead of some of these fair-weather-flat-pitch batsmen.

Table 1: Most valuable players in the Sri Lanka Triangular Series (Aug 10-28, 2010)

 

 

Player Name

Team

Runs

Six

Four

Top Score

Strike Rate

W

Eco

M

MVPI

1

Virender Sehwag

IND

268

3

38

110

107.20

0

4.8

5

330

2

Kyle Mills

NZ

72

3

10

52

110.77

8

4.7

4

315

3

Tillakaratne Dilshan

SL

239

1

34

110

91.57

0

--

5

271

4

Praveen Kumar

IND

21

1

2

14

56.76

9

5.1

5

243

5

Thisara Perera

SL

6

0

0

6

75.00

8

3.8

2

230

6

Angelo Mathews

SL

16

0

2

15

51.61

7

3.9

5

225

7

Scott Styris

NZ

114

1

10

89

79.72

3

4.0

4

219

8

Kumar Sangakkara

SL

174

1

18

71

82.86

0

--

5

218

9

Lasith Malinga

SL

5

0

1

5

41.67

7

4.0

5

211

10

Ashish Nehra

IND

8

0

1

4

23.53

8

4.9

5

198

11

Munaf Patel

IND

7

0

1

7

63.64

5

4.0

2

171

12

Ishant Sharma

IND

11

0

1

8

22.92

7

4.9

4

165

13

Ross Taylor

NZ

119

1

12

95

73.91

0

--

4

144

14

Daryl Tuffey

NZ

19

1

2

19

135.71

4

5.5

3

140

15

Nathan McCullum

NZ

41

1

0

36

50.00

4

4.3

3

139

16

Tim Southee

NZ

23

1

1

13

65.71

5

5.6

2

132

17

Nuwan Kulasekara

SL

29

1

3

22

87.88

3

4.4

5

130

18

Suraj Randiv

SL

47

0

5

43

72.31

3

4.5

3

124

19

MS Dhoni

IND

140

1

12

67

58.82

0

--

5

122

20

Mahela Jayawardene

SL

140

1

15

59

71.43

0

--

5

122

21

Jacob Oram

NZ

14

0

2

14

140.00

2

2.7

2

109

22

Pragyan Ojha

IND

2

0

0

2

14.29

4

4.9

3

104

23

Ravindra Jadeja

IND

37

0

5

20

46.84

3

5.4

4

85

24

Yuvraj Singh

IND

75

1

11

38

53.96

2

5.0

4

84

25

Upul Tharanga

SL

100

0

14

70

62.11

0

--

5

76

26

Chamara Silva

SL

67

1

6

41

85.90

0

--

3

74

27

Rangana Herath

SL

2

0

0

2

66.67

2

3.5

2

72

28

Andy McKay

NZ

7

0

0

4

28.00

2

3.8

3

70

29

Suresh Raina

IND

65

2

5

29

73.86

0

--

5

62

30

Dilhara Fernando

SL

6

0

0

6

54.55

2

4.1

1

60

31

BJ Watling

NZ

57

0

8

55

72.15

0

--

3

58

32

Chamara Kapugedera

SL

31

0

3

12

65.96

0

--

5

58

33

Kane Williamson

NZ

13

0

1

13

34.21

1

3.4

4

46

34

Gareth Hopkins

NZ

21

0

0

11

55.26

0

--

4

40

35

Thilan Samaraweera

SL

43

0

5

36

70.49

0

--

2

40

36

Ajantha Mendis

SL

0

0

0

0

--

1

4.2

2

33

37

Virat Kohli

IND

45

0

6

37

59.21

0

--

3

27

38

Martin Guptill

NZ

11

0

2

11

137.50

0

--

3

20

39

Rohit Sharma

IND

20

0

2

11

46.51

0

--

4

19

40

Dinesh Karthik

IND

33

0

5

14

39.29

0

--

5

16

41

Peter Ingram

NZ

12

0

2

12

70.59

0

--

2

10

42

Grant Elliott

NZ

18

0

1

11

35.29

0

--

3

-7

43

Abhimanyu Mithun

IND

4

0

0

4

25.00

0

6.0

1

-9

Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Top score | 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.

In Table 2, we list the most valuable Indian ODI players of the current 2010-11 season. This table will, henceforth, be ordered on the basis of the average MVPI, i.e., we divide the MVPI total by the number of matches played by the player.

Averaging the MVPI makes eminent sense in general, but there is the occasional risk that 'outliers' may top the list; someone just plays one match, does very well and finds himself on top!

Table 2: India's most valuable players in the 2010-11 ODI season (13 matches so far)

 

 

Player Name

Runs

Six

Four

Strike Rate

Bat Pts

W

Eco

Bowl Pts

Field Pts

M

MVPI

Av MVPI

1

V Sehwag

289

3

41

97.6

331

4

4.6

106.2

10

7

448

63.9

2

G Gambhir

203

1

17

82.9

202

0

--

0

0

4

202

50.5

3

Praveen Kumar

24

1

2

60

14.7

16

4.8

417

15

9

447

49.6

4

R Jadeja

199

3

14

72.4

169

12

4.8

313.8

45

12

528

44

5

Ashish Nehra

8

0

1

23.5

-12

14

5.2

339

10

8

337

42.1

6

Ishant Sharma

11

0

1

22.9

-18

7

4.9

177.8

5

4

165

41.2

7

Zaheer Khan

0

0

0

0

-0.8

6

5

149.5

10

4

159

39.7

8

MS Dhoni

313

4

25

68.5

245

0

--

0

108

9

353

39.2

9

Rohit Sharma

412

6

27

86.4

427

1

6.3

21

15

12

463

38.5

10

Pragyan Ojha

14

0

1

35.9

-4.5

8

4.5

230.8

10

7

236

33.8

11

Virat Kohli

280

0

22

72

236

0

5.3

-1

15

11

250

22.7

12

Yuvraj Singh

75

1

11

54

34.2

2

5

50

0

4

84

21

13

Suresh Raina

230

5

17

85.5

236

0

--

0

20

13

256

19.7

14

Dinesh Karthik

239

0

34

66.9

181

0

--

0

25

11

206

18.7

15

Yusuf Pathan

70

3

7

98.6

80.8

0

7.5

-20

10

4

71

17.7

16

Ashok Dinda

18

0

1

60

11

3

6

36.2

0

5

47

9.4

Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points | AvMVPI = MVPI/M | *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.

Sehwag rules here too, but take a look at Ravindra Jadeja's MVPI of 528, compiled over 12 matches.

It would appear that Jadeja has just done enough, either with the bat or ball, to keep retaining his place in the side. Of course he is no match-winner; but this Indian team, and that's the crux of the problem, currently has exactly one match-winner!

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji

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