The only thing Sachin Tendulkar has done wrong after the 2007 World Cup is to keep getting out in the 90's, often exactly at 99. Otherwise we are witnessing one of Tendulkar's best years in one-day internationals.
Yuvraj Singh (2) continues to bring tremendous value to India's ODI team. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (3) is having another great season, and Irfan Pathan (14) and Harbhajan Singh (11) are making encouraging comebacks.
Rudra Pratap Singh (6) has bowled wonderfully well to already bag 23 wickets this season, and there is no doubt that when the going gets tougher in Australia, Rahul Dravid (7) will return to the Indian ODI team.
Table 1: India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (24 matches)
| Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 988 | 1223 | 997.6 | 247 | 234 | 5 | 60.2 | 5 | 0.5 | 37 | 21 | 1094.8 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 828 | 987 | 866.4 | 406 | 405 | 9 | 134 | 6 | 2.5 | 91.5 | 24 | 1091.9 |
| MS Dhoni | 608 | 763 | 605.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18|9 | 4.5 | 290 | 22 | 895.6 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 606 | 845 | 536 | 271 | 318 | 4 | 79.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 19 | 644.4 |
| Zaheer Khan | 148 | 208 | 129.6 | 960 | 1100 | 20 | 400 | 2 | 2.5 | 70 | 21 | 599.6 |
| R P Singh | 26 | 55 | 8 | 735 | 825 | 23 | 477 | 2 | 2 | 58.5 | 17 | 543.5 |
| Rahul Dravid | 462 | 554 | 480.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.5 | 62 | 20 | 542.8 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 548 | 729 | 512.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 16 | 522.8 |
| Robin Uthappa | 321 | 299 | 402.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 73 | 12 | 475.8 |
| Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.8 | 538 | 666 | 17 | 402.8 | 8 | 0.5 | 52 | 13 | 467.6 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 101 | 119 | 106.8 | 387 | 504 | 7 | 184.2 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 9 | 316 |
| Ramesh Powar | 46 | 78 | 29.6 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 217 | 186.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0.5 | 82 | 13 | 268.4 |
| Irfan Pathan | 88 | 137 | 66.4 | 441 | 491 | 10 | 191.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 268.2 |
| Murali Kartik | 21 | 38 | 11.6 | 238 | 317 | 9 | 231.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 243.2 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.6 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.2 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 233.8 |
| S Sreesanth | 8 | 37 | -13.6 | 308 | 306 | 12 | 224.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 221.2 |
| V Sehwag | 76 | 78 | 89.6 | 46 | 48 | 1 | 16.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 116.0 |
| Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.4 | 208 | 216 | 6 | 108.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 113.4 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.2 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.6 |
| Rohit Sharma | 9 | 13 | 7.6 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 19.4 |
| Ishant Sharma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 42 | 0 | -4.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4.4 |
If we look at the performances so far in the ongoing India-Pakistan ODI series, Salman Butt leads the list because he has scored so heavily. Yuvraj Singh isn't too far behind and is probably a bigger favourite at this stage to become the player of the series. But there are still two games to go and numbers could change significantly after the Gwalior and Jaipur matches.
Table 2: Most valuable players so far in the India-Pakistan series (3 matches)
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| 1 | Salman Butt | 216 | 249 | 232.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 3 | 244.8 |
| 2 | Yuvraj Singh | 169 | 218 | 163.6 | 18 | 30 | 1 | 30 | 1 | 1.5 | 41 | 3 | 234.6 |
| 3 | Harbhajan Singh | 48 | 30 | 72 | 126 | 180 | 4 | 114 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 196 |
| 4 | Sachin Tendulkar | 132 | 125 | 164 | 54 | 42 | 2 | 27.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 191.6 |
| 5 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 116 | 139 | 120.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0|2 | 2 | 68 | 3 | 188.8 |
| 6 | Younis Khan | 163 | 189 | 174.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 174.8 |
| 7 | Shoaib Akhtar | 1 | 2 | 0.4 | 134 | 168 | 6 | 144.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 144.8 |
| 8 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 114 | 117 | 134.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 139.4 |
| 9 | Shahid Afridi | 72 | 53 | 101.6 | 156 | 162 | 2 | 21.6 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 133.2 |
| 10 | Sohail Tanvir | 14 | 10 | 20 | 82 | 120 | 4 | 110 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 130 |
| 11 | Gautam Gambhir | 126 | 168 | 117.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 122.6 |
| 12 | Mohammad Yousuf | 110 | 137 | 110.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 115.4 |
| 13 | R P Singh | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 163 | 156 | 5 | 81.8 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 3 | 95 |
| 14 | Irfan Pathan | 29 | 29 | 34.8 | 159 | 167 | 3 | 46.6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 86.4 |
| 15 | Sourav Ganguly | 84 | 104 | 84.8 | 55 | 54 | 0 | -11.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 73 |
| 16 | Kamran Akmal | 27 | 51 | 13.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4|0 | 1.5 | 56 | 3 | 69.2 |
| 17 | Zaheer Khan | 9 | 18 | 3.6 | 145 | 158 | 3 | 53.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 57 |
| 18 | Umar Gul | 2 | 2 | 2.4 | 152 | 162 | 3 | 49.6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 57 |
| 19 | Abdur Rehman | 2 | 6 | -0.8 | 112 | 102 | 3 | 41.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 40.8 |
| 20 | Robin Uthappa | 30 | 30 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 36 |
| 21 | Murali Kartik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 96 | 1 | 26.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26.8 |
| 22 | V Sehwag | 25 | 31 | 25.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25.2 |
| 23 | Shoaib Malik | 39 | 68 | 23.6 | 80 | 78 | 0 | -17.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 24 | Iftikhar Anjum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 90 | 0 | -42 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -42 |
Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points) = 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.
Srinivas Bhogle, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.
