Sachin Tendulkar continues to be India's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in one-day internationals in the current season, even though he has played in only 11 of India's 14 ODI games after the disastrous World Cup 2007.
It's been an extraordinary comeback by the veteran batsman.
Sourav Ganguly is placed fourth. He would certainly have been in the top three if he had played all the India ODI games this season.
Yuvraj Singh's second place is more predictable, because he always scores quickly and bowls a bit too.
Rahul Dravid's third place is a bit of a surprise, he's up there because of a vastly improved strike rate (87 runs per 100 balls this season, his career strike rate is 71 per 100 balls). Dravid has always scored a lot of runs, but seldom at such a frenetic pace.
India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (14 matches):
| Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| S Tendulkar | 578 | 696 | 599.2 | 118 | 108 | 3 | 40.4 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 11 | 657 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 467 | 545 | 498 | 274 | 273 | 6 | 88.4 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 14 | 630 |
| Rahul Dravid | 411 | 474 | 442.8 | 5 | 0.5 | 37 | 14 | 480 | ||||
| Sourav Ganguly | 395 | 560 | 342 | 185 | 246 | 4 | 107.8 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 11 | 479 |
| Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.8 | 538 | 666 | 17 | 402.8 | 8 | 0.5 | 52 | 13 | 468 |
| M S Dhoni (w/k) | 316 | 417 | 298.4 | 13|4 | 2 | 153 | 12 | 451 | ||||
| G Gambhir | 405 | 527 | 388.4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 393 | ||||
| R P Singh | 13 | 27 | 4.4 | 365 | 486 | 13 | 335.8 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 10 | 357 |
| Zaheer Khan | 71 | 82 | 76.4 | 460 | 576 | 9 | 216.8 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 11 | 317 |
| Ramesh Powar | 29 | 60 | 10 | 448 | 602 | 10 | 273.6 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 11 | 294 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 211 | 191.2 | 11|1 | 0.5 | 77 | 12 | 268 | ||||
| Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.6 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.2 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 234 |
| Robin Uthappa | 124 | 125 | 148 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 3 | 182 | ||||
| Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.4 | 208 | 216 | 6 | 108.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 113 |
| V Sehwag | 51 | 47 | 64.4 | 46 | 48 | 1 | 16.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 90.8 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.2 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.4 | 2 | 87.6 | |||
| S Sreesanth | 64 | 90 | 3 | 80 | 2 | 80 | ||||||
| Rohit Sharma | 8 | 9 | 8.8 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 20.6 |
| Ishant Sharma | 38 | 42 | 0 | -4.4 | 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 |
Note: 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.
The table below lists the Most Valuable Players at the end of the recently concluded seven-match NatWest ODI series in England.
Ian Bell topped the list (he was also the man of the series) and England captain Paul Collingwood was second.
Only three Indians (all batsmen -- Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Ganguly) figured in the top 10, so England were indeed deserving winners. India had the greater batting firepower, but England had a much better balanced team.
The most valuable players in the India-England series:
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| 1 | I Bell | 422 | 460 | 476 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 7 | 520 | ||||
| 2 | P Collingwood | 274 | 280 | 324 | 251 | 276 | 3 | 41.8 | 8 | 0.5 | 52 | 7 | 418 |
| 3 | S Tendulkar | 374 | 436 | 399.2 | 74 | 72 | 0 | -16 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 7 | 395 |
| 4 | JM Anderson | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 316 | 395 | 14 | 336 | 3 | 0.5 | 27 | 7 | 364 |
| 5 | Yuvraj Singh | 283 | 329 | 302.8 | 146 | 126 | 1 | -21 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 7 | 321 |
| 6 | D Mascarenhas | 88 | 54 | 132.8 | 137 | 204 | 6 | 170 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 4 | 320 |
| 7 | Sourav Ganguly | 249 | 339 | 226.8 | 120 | 150 | 2 | 48 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 7 | 299 |
| 8 | MJ Prior (wk) | 142 | 161 | 155.2 | 14|1 | 2.5 | 140 | 7 | 295 | ||||
| 9 | S Broad | 85 | 111 | 81.2 | 340 | 392 | 9 | 190 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 7 | 295 |
| 10 | A Flintoff | 14 | 15 | 16 | 144 | 213 | 10 | 266 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 292 | |
| 11 | Rahul Dravid | 223 | 229 | 262.8 | 3 | 15 | 7 | 278 | |||||
| 12 | M S Dhoni (w/k) | 175 | 242 | 156.4 | 8|2 | 1 | 84 | 7 | 240 | ||||
| 13 | Owais Shah | 149 | 166 | 165.2 | 19 | 24 | 1 | 24.2 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 5 | 201 |
| 14 | K Pietersen | 209 | 274 | 198.8 | 13 | 11 | 0 | -4.2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 200 | |
| 15 | A Cook | 182 | 241 | 171.2 | 3 | 15 | 6 | 186 | |||||
| 16 | M Panesar | 268 | 336 | 6 | 145 | 1 | 1.5 | 41 | 6 | 186 | |||
| 17 | Ramesh Powar | 23 | 46 | 9.2 | 235 | 308 | 6 | 155 | 2 | 10 | 6 | 175 | |
| 18 | RP Singh | 13 | 27 | 4.4 | 222 | 252 | 7 | 148 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 157 | |
| 19 | Zaheer Khan | 62 | 78 | 61.6 | 270 | 336 | 4 | 94.8 | 6 | 156 | |||
| 20 | Piyush Chawla | 17 | 30 | 10 | 314 | 360 | 6 | 118 | 4 | 20 | 7 | 148 | |
| 21 | Robin Uthappa | 69 | 63 | 87.6 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 2 | 117 | ||||
| 22 | G Gambhir | 113 | 157 | 100.4 | 4 | 100 | |||||||
| 23 | Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.6 | 313 | 264 | 7 | 66.2 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 84 | |
| 24 | L Wright | 50 | 41 | 67.2 | 11 | 12 | 0 | -1.4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 71 | |
| 25 | Dinesh Karthik | 51 | 74 | 42.8 | 3 | 0.5 | 27 | 5 | 70 | ||||
| 26 | R Bopara | 81 | 127 | 60.4 | 46 | 43 | 0 | -12 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 59 | |
| 27 | Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.4 | 107 | 78 | 4 | 51.4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 56 | |
| 28 | Chris Tremlett | 19 | 10 | 30 | 130 | 102 | 2 | -0.4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 35 | |
| 29 | J Lewis | 17 | 15 | 22 | 63 | 60 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 31 |
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 |
Note: *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.
We now await the India-Australia ODI series in India.
Srinivas Bhogle, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.
