India-NZ ODI series: Meet Most Valuable Players

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the Most Valuable Players of the India-New Zealand ODI series.

IMAGE: K L Rahul plays the ramp shot. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

India's 3-0 loss to New Zealand was most unexpected, but, on hindsight, it is easy to guess what went wrong.

First, India bowled rather poorly (Jasprit Bumrah didn't get a single wicket!), and didn't field too well either.

Second, India were without their regular openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli appeared somewhat listless.

K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer batted very well (which was reassuring) but that wasn't enough.

Third, and this is the most worrying, India seemed to think that it wasn't an 'important' year for ODIs.

So, there was some unnecessary experimentation.

Shardul Thakur was given too many chances (and didn't help his cause), Mohammed Shami didn't need that rest (he takes a while to get fully charged up) and Rishabh Pant must surely be considered a far more promising batting prospect (even if his wicket-keeping has taken a bit of a dive) than Kedar Jadhav (especially if he isn't asked to bowl).

It was almost as if India didn't want that ODI series in a T20 World Cup year, and before a test series where success could fetch immense adulation and as many as 120 test match points.

But Rahul (MVPI: 276) used the series to establish that he's indisputably India's third best batsman, and Shreyas Iyer (MVPI: 262) offered cause for bewilderment as you wonder why India didn't find its No 4 when you needed him most in 2019.

For New Zealand, Ross Taylor (246) made amends for his poor display in the T20 series, Martin Guptill (216) again posed the question about why he's so good playing at home, and so much poorer away, and Kyle Jamieson announced himself to be an exciting prospect.

However Tim Southee (58) and Mitchell Santner (10) appear to be real worries.

Recall that the Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) collapses the player's batting, bowling and fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'.

Most Valuable Players of the India-New Zealand series

Rank	Player	Runs	Top Score	4s	6s	Strike Rate	Wickets	Economy rate	Games	MVPI
1	Lokesh Rahul	204	112	12	8	110.3	0	-	3	276
2	Shreyas Iyer	217	103	27	2	95.6	0	-	3	262
3	Ross Taylor	194	109	17	6	110.2	0	-	3	246
4	Martin Guptill	177	79	15	7	106.6	0	-	3	216
5	Henry Nicholls	199	80	25	0	81.6	0	-	3	200
6	Colin de Grandhomme	64	58	7	3	168.4	3	5	3	199
7	Tom Latham	108	69	11	2	112.5	0	-	3	171
8	Yuzvendra Chahal	10	10	1	0	83.3	6	5.3	2	160
9	Ravindra Jadeja	63	55	3	1	78.8	2	4.8	3	140
10	Kyle Jamieson	25	25	1	2	104.2	3	4.8	2	120
11	Kane Willamson	91	69	10	2	115.2	0	-	2	116
12	Virat Kohli	75	51	7	1	75	0	-	3	114
13	Prithvi Shaw	84	40	12	2	102.4	0	-	3	100
14	Hamish Bennet	0	0	0	0	-	6	6.9	3	96
15	James Neesham	31	19	2	1	70.5	2	6	3	61
16	Shardul Thakur	25	18	4	0	119	4	8.1	3	59
17	Tim Southee	3	3	0	0	30	4	6.4	3	58
18	Kedar Jadhav	35	26	4	1	83.3	0	-	2	45
19	Mayank Agarwal	36	32	6	0	92.3	0	-	3	45
20	Manish Pandey	42	42	2	0	87.5	0	-	1	44
21	Navdeep Saini	53	45	7	2	96.4	0	6.4	2	44
22	Tom Blundell	31	22	4	0	88.6	0	-	2	38
23	Ish Sodhi	0	0	0	0	-	1	6.8	1	18
24	Kuldeep Yadav	0	0	0	0	-	2	8.4	1	16
25	Mohammed Shami	0	0	0	0	-	1	6.9	1	13
26	Mitchell Santner	12	12	1	1	133.3	0	5.9	2	10
27	Jasprit Bumrah	0	1	0	0	0	0	5.6	3	-18

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.

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