Afridi leads World Cup MVP race

There was a time when the One-Day Internationals World Cup tournament was over in just two weeks!

Now it drags on for many weeks. We also have a lot of one-sided matches; which are bothersome because performance in such matches may not truly reflect a player's value.

The 2011 World Cup is now (as of on the morning of March 1) 13 matches old, and most of the top teams (except South Africa) have already played two matches.

We therefore have enough data to identify the leading performers so far, using our most valuable player index (MVPI).

The formula to compute MVPI 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, fielders who take the most catches or participate in the most run out dismissals and collapses this combined performance into a single 'run-equivalent' index.

So if Shahid Afridi, who is currently the most valuable player of this World Cup, has a MVPI of 303, it means that his batting + bowling + fielding performance (mostly bowling, in Afridi's case) is equivalent to scoring 303 runs.

Most valuable players in the 2011 World Cup so far (after 13 matches, as on 28.2.2011)

	Player Name	Team	Runs	Sixes	Fours	Strike Rate	W	Eco	MVPI
1	Shahid Afridi	PAK	23	0	4	143.8	9	2.8	303
2	Andrew Strauss	ENG	246	1	27	107.9	0	--	302
3	Virender Sehwag	IND	210	5	20	126.5	0	--	287
4	Mitchell Johnson	AUS	7	0	1	233.3	8	2.8	252
5	Ryan ten Doeschate	NED	126	3	10	108.6	3	6.2	211
6	Shane Watson	AUS	141	2	14	92.2	1	2.7	204
7	Kumar Sangakkara	SL	141	2	9	95.3	0	--	201
8	Graeme Cremer	ZIM	63	0	6	85.1	4	3.8	193
9	Kemar Roach	WI	2	0	0	33.3	7	4.2	188
10	Tim Bresnan	ENG	14	1	0	155.6	6	4.9	186
11	Sachin Tendulkar	IND	148	5	14	102.8	0	--	176
12	Shakib Al Hasan	BAN	71	0	8	101.4	3	4.9	172
13	Misbah-ul-Haq	PAK	148	2	7	92.5	0	--	163
14	M Jayawardene	SL	102	1	9	112.1	0	--	151
15	Virat Kohli	IND	108	2	9	122.7	0	--	148
16	Ray Price	ZIM	15	0	2	60.0	4	3.3	145
17	Thisara Perera	SL	19	0	2	111.8	5	5.4	143
18	Umar Akmal	PAK	81	1	9	120.9	0	--	141
19	AB de Villiers	SA	107	2	8	101.9	0	--	139
20	Munaf Patel	IND	0	0	0	--	6	5.9	137
21	Shaun Tait	AUS	0	0	0	--	5	4.3	136
22	Kieron Pollard	WI	60	4	5	214.3	1	4.4	132
23	Hamish Bennett	NZ	0	0	0	--	6	6.6	131
24	Tim Southee	NZ	6	0	0	60.0	4	3.6	126
25	Tamim Iqbal	BAN	114	1	10	88.4	0	--	126
26	Zaheer Khan	IND	4	0	0	80.0	5	5.2	125
27	Younis Khan	PAK	122	0	6	85.3	0	--	125
28	Tatenda Taibu	ZIM	105	0	10	90.5	0	--	123
29	Prosper Utseya	ZIM	46	0	3	62.2	3	3.9	123
30	Nuwan Kulasekara	SL	31	1	3	182.4	3	5.0	123
31	Sulieman Benn	WI	9	0	1	100.0	4	4.4	122
32	Ian Bell	ENG	102	1	5	91.9	0	--	117
33	Imran Tahir	SA	0	0	0	--	4	4.1	114
34	Tillakaratne Dilshan	SL	91	0	13	79.8	0	4.0	108
35	Kamran Akmal	PAK	94	0	10	81.7	0	--	107
36	Andre Botha	IRE	22	0	2	61.1	3	3.6	107
37	Brad Haddin	AUS	84	0	11	72.4	0	--	106
38	Darren Bravo	WI	103	3	9	85.8	0	--	106
39	Graeme Swann	ENG	15	1	0	166.7	3	4.9	104
40	Shafiul Islam	BAN	2	0	0	11.1	5	6.0	99
41	Pieter Seelaar	NED	1	0	0	20.0	4	5.0	99
42	Craig Ervine	ZIM	85	2	6	97.7	0	--	98
43	Gautam Gambhir	IND	90	0	8	90.0	0	--	97
44	Rizwan Cheema	CAN	51	3	6	113.3	2	6.1	97
45	M Muralitharan	SL	0	0	0	0.0	3	3.8	96
46	Harvir Baidwan	CAN	28	0	2	48.3	4	5.9	96
47	Dale Steyn	SA	0	0	0	--	3	3.2	89
48	Balaji Rao	CAN	7	0	1	53.8	4	6.2	88
49	Michael Clarke	AUS	82	0	8	89.1	0	--	87
50	Jacob Oram	NZ	0	0	0	--	3	0.7	87
51	Devon Smith	WI	89	0	12	82.4	0	6.0	87

South African players do not figure prominently yet because South Africa has played only one match. But their players are certain to rise in the charts as the World Cup progresses.

What will score the most runs and take the most wickets? Too early to say yet, but bet on Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Andrew Strauss or AB de Villiers at this stage to score the most runs. If Shahid Afridi continues his rampaging form, he is certain to end up with the most wickets but Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson is also in the race.

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