After his 97 at almost run-a-ball, Sachin Tendulkar continues to be India's most valuable player (MVP). Yuvraj Singh is only a few points behind him. These two, together with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, have been India's three best players so far in the 2007-08 season.
Table 1: India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (25 matches)
Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
Sachin Tendulkar | 1085 | 1325 | 1110 | 247 | 234 | 5 | 60.2 | 5 | 0.5 | 37 | 22 | 1207.2 |
Yuvraj Singh | 881 | 1052 | 920.4 | 418 | 423 | 10 | 160.4 | 7 | 2.5 | 95 | 25 | 1175.8 |
Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 653 | 808 | 659.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18|9 | 4.5 | 288 | 23 | 947.6 |
Sourav Ganguly | 611 | 850 | 542 | 300 | 348 | 5 | 98.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 20 | 669.4 |
Zaheer Khan | 148 | 208 | 129.6 | 1000 | 1160 | 22 | 456 | 2 | 2.5 | 70 | 22 | 655.6 |
R P Singh | 26 | 55 | 8 | 788 | 885 | 24 | 496 | 2 | 2 | 58 | 18 | 562 |
Rahul Dravid | 462 | 554 | 480.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.5 | 62 | 20 | 542.8 |
Gautam Gambhir | 551 | 742 | 508.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 17 | 518.4 |
Robin Uthappa | 321 | 299 | 402.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 73 | 13 | 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 | 439 | 564 | 7 | 180.2 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 10 | 312 |
Irfan Pathan | 88 | 137 | 66.4 | 493 | 551 | 11 | 211.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 11 | 288.2 |
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 |
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 |
Virender Sehwag | 119 | 127 | 136.4 | 57 | 60 | 1 | 15.0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 161.4 |
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 |
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.
Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh are, in fact, the two most valuable players from either side in the current India-Pakistan series - ahead of third-placed Younis Khan - and therefore the two most likely candidates for the man of the series award.
Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the India-Pakistan series (4 matches)
Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
1 | Yuvraj Singh | 222 | 283 | 217.6 | 2 | 30 | 48 | 2 | 56.4 | 1.5 | 46 | 4 | 320 |
2 | Sachin Tendulkar | 229 | 227 | 276.4 | 0 | 54 | 42 | 2 | 27.6 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 304 |
3 | Younis Khan | 231 | 278 | 239.6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 244.6 |
4 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 161 | 184 | 174.8 | 0|2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 68 | 4 | 242.8 |
5 | Salman Butt | 216 | 251 | 231.2 | 0 | 16 | 9 | 0 | -8.8 | 0.5 | 12 | 4 | 234.4 |
6 | Mohammad Yousuf | 209 | 241 | 225.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 230.2 |
7 | Harbhajan Singh | 48 | 30 | 72 | 2 | 178 | 240 | 4 | 110 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 192 |
8 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 154 | 156 | 183.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 188.2 |
9 | Shoaib Akhtar | 1 | 2 | 0.4 | 0 | 183 | 228 | 7 | 167.4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 167.8 |
10 | Sohail Tanvir | 20 | 14 | 28.8 | 1 | 125 | 162 | 4 | 100.6 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 134.4 |
11 | Goutam Gambhir | 129 | 181 | 113.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 118.2 |
12 | R P Singh | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 0 | 216 | 216 | 6 | 100.8 | 0.5 | 12 | 4 | 114 |
13 | Shahid Afridi | 73 | 57 | 100.4 | 2 | 223 | 222 | 2 | 2.6 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 113 |
14 | Zaheer Khan | 9 | 18 | 3.6 | 0 | 185 | 218 | 5 | 109.4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 113 |
15 | Irfan Pathan | 29 | 29 | 34.8 | 1 | 211 | 227 | 4 | 66.6 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 106.4 |
16 | Sourav Ganguly | 89 | 109 | 90.8 | 0 | 84 | 84 | 1 | 7.2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 98 |
17 | Umar Gul | 2 | 2 | 2.4 | 1 | 194 | 210 | 4 | 70 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 77.4 |
18 | Kamran Akmal | 29 | 54 | 14.8 | 4|0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | 56 | 4 | 70.8 |
19 | V Sehwag | 68 | 80 | 72 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 0 | -1.4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 70.6 |
20 | Shoaib Malik | 70 | 123 | 41.6 | 0 | 80 | 78 | 0 | -17.6 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 48 |
21 | Abdur Rehman | 2 | 6 | -0.8 | 0 | 112 | 102 | 3 | 41.6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 40.8 |
22 | Robin Uthappa | 30 | 30 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 36 |
23 | Murali Kartik | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 96 | 1 | 26.8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 26.8 |
24 | Iftikhar Anjum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 149 | 150 | 1 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -5 |
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.