Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list India's Most Valuable ODI Players in the India-Australia T20 series.
There are respectful whispers that losing Ravindra Jadeja may not have been so terrible after all, given how he has been so seamlessly replaced by Axar Patel.
Axar lacks the batting aplomb and confidence, especially of today's Jadeja, and certainly his fielding acumen, but he's more likely to get your wickets at a lower economy rate, and can also get you 15-20 runs if he gets 10 balls to bat.
With 8 (frontline) wickets, and at an economy rate of 6.3 (the average was 9), Axar was deservedly the most valuable player (MVPI of 179). Cameron Green, who plundered 118 at a strike rate of over 200, was just behind (MVPI of 177).
While Australia wonders how to bring Green into their T20 World Cup team, there is little doubt that many IPL teams will be out to grab him.
Together with Matthew Wade (129), Green badly rattled India's bowling attack (check the table below to see where did India's bowlers other than Axar end up).
India eventually won the extremely close series because Rohit-SKY-Kohli-Pandya batted slightly better than Green-Wade-Finch-David. But on another day, and on their pitches, Australia could well enjoy the advantage.
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.
Most Valuable Players of the India-Australia series (September 20-25, 2022)
| Rank | Player | Team | Top Score | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | Wickets | Economy Rate | Match | MVPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Axar Patel | IND | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 120 | 8 | 6.3 | 3 | 179 |
| 2 | Cameron Green | AUS | 61 | 118 | 16 | 7 | 214.5 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 177 |
| 3 | Suryakumar Yadav | IND | 69 | 115 | 7 | 9 | 185.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 147 |
| 4 | Hardik Pandya | IND | 71 | 105 | 10 | 6 | 190.9 | 0 | 9.2 | 3 | 140 |
| 5 | Mathew Wade | AUS | 45 | 89 | 10 | 5 | 202.3 | 0 | - | 3 | 129 |
| 6 | Rohit Sharma | IND | 46 | 74 | 7 | 6 | 172.1 | 0 | - | 3 | 101 |
| 7 | Aaron Finch | AUS | 31 | 60 | 8 | 2 | 176.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 90 |
| 8 | Tim David | AUS | 54 | 74 | 3 | 5 | 168.2 | 0 | - | 3 | 89 |
| 9 | Virat Kohli | IND | 63 | 76 | 5 | 4 | 124.6 | 0 | - | 3 | 84 |
| 10 | KL Rahul | IND | 55 | 66 | 4 | 4 | 146.7 | 0 | - | 3 | 77 |
| 11 | Nathan Ellis | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 3 | 7.5 | 1 | 60 |
| 12 | Daniel Sams | AUS | 28 | 28 | 1 | 2 | 140 | 2 | 10.3 | 2 | 55 |
| 13 | Steven Smith | AUS | 35 | 52 | 5 | 1 | 133.3 | 0 | - | 3 | 52 |
| 14 | Josh Inglis | AUS | 24 | 41 | 6 | 0 | 128.1 | 0 | - | 2 | 39 |
| 15 | Dinesh Karthik | IND | 10 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 212.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 38 |
| 16 | Adam Zampa | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 3 | 9.6 | 3 | 32 |
| 17 | Yuzvendra Chahal | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 9.1 | 3 | 23 |
| 18 | Umesh Yadav | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 13.5 | 1 | 21 |
| 19 | Josh Hazelwood | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 3 | 11 | 3 | 21 |
| 20 | Pat Cummin | AUS | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 200 | 2 | 11 | 3 | 7 |
| 21 | Harshal Patel | IND | 7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 175 | 1 | 12.4 | 3 | 6 |
| 22 | Rishabh Pant | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | - | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | Seen Abbott | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 11 | 1 | -3 |
| 24 | Jasprit Bumrah | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 12.2 | 2 | -9 |
| 25 | Glenn Maxwell | AUS | 6 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 46.7 | 0 | 10.5 | 3 | -11 |
| 26 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 13 | 2 | -19 |
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
SA T20s: Key areas for India to improve ahead of WC
SA ODIs: Samson likely to be Dhawan's deputy
How 'outstanding' Axar emerged as India's match-winner
Captain Rohit on where India needs to improve...
'Our batting approach has changed'