Australia's left-armer pacer Nathan Bracken proved to be the most valuable player (MVP) of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series. Not surprisingly, he was also named as the Man of the Series for the tournament.
Bracken topped the list because he took the largest number of wickets (21) at an economy rate of just 4.04.
Table 1: The most valuable players in the CB tri-series (14 matches)
| Rank | Player | Country | Runs | Balls | batpts | Rc | Bb | W | bwlpts | Ct|St | Run Outs | fldpts | M | Total |
| 1 | Nathan Bracken | Aus | 17 | 45 | -2 | 347 | 515 | 21 | 569 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 572 |
| 2 | James Hopes | Aus | 193 | 242 | 192.4 | 218 | 371 | 8 | 270.8 | 3 | 1.5 | 51 | 9 | 514.2 |
| 3 | Adam Gilchrist | Aus | 322 | 328 | 381.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16|2 | 0 | 100 | 10 | 481.6 |
| 4 | Gautam Gambhir | Ind | 440 | 532 | 454.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 459.4 |
| 5 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | Ind | 347 | 469 | 318.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19|2 | 1 | 139 | 10 | 457.8 |
| 6 | Brett Lee | Aus | 73 | 124 | 46.8 | 356 | 430 | 16 | 372 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 440.8 |
| 7 | Sachin Tendulkar | Ind | 399 | 468 | 423.6 | 21 | 24 | 0 | -1.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 431.8 |
| 8 | Harbhajan Singh | Ind | 57 | 45 | 78 | 277 | 391 | 8 | 227.8 | 1 | 3 | 77 | 10 | 382.8 |
| 9 | Mitchell Johnson | Aus | 35 | 53 | 27.6 | 311 | 462 | 11 | 322.6 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 9 | 372.2 |
| 10 | KC Sangakkara | SL | 326 | 447 | 294.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6|2 | 1 | 74 | 8 | 368.4 |
| 11 | Michael Clarke | Aus | 314 | 446 | 271.2 | 130 | 156 | 3 | 66.8 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 358 |
| 12 | Ishant Sharma | Ind | 5 | 17 | -3.6 | 285 | 373 | 14 | 349.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 355.8 |
| 13 | Mathew Hayden | Aus | 298 | 388 | 285.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 8 | 324.6 |
| 14 | Irfan Pathan | Ind | 118 | 182 | 90.4 | 377 | 412 | 11 | 216.6 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 10 | 324 |
| 15 | Praveen Kumar | Ind | 13 | 15 | 14 | 175 | 240 | 10 | 257 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 4 | 305 |
| 16 | Michael Hussey | Aus | 278 | 392 | 242.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.5 | 42 | 10 | 284.4 |
| 17 | Brad Hogg | Aus | 85 | 132 | 64.4 | 236 | 327 | 8 | 217.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 282 |
| 18 | Rohit Sharma | Ind | 235 | 311 | 221.2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | -0.2 | 5 | 1.5 | 61 | 10 | 282 |
| 19 | SL Malinga | SL | 19 | 65 | -14 | 368 | 430 | 12 | 264 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 8 | 267 |
| 20 | Yuvraj Singh | Ind | 202 | 239 | 212.8 | 120 | 156 | 1 | 28.8 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 9 | 263.6 |
| 21 | M Muralitharan | SL | 25 | 43 | 15.6 | 353 | 440 | 9 | 215 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 245.6 |
| 22 | MKDI Amerasinghe | SL | 16 | 20 | 16 | 276 | 342 | 9 | 213.6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 234.6 |
| 23 | TM Dilshan | SL | 159 | 169 | 182.8 | 19 | 12 | 0 | -9.4 | 4 | 1.5 | 56 | 7 | 229.4 |
| 24 | DPMD Jayawardene | SL | 214 | 297 | 190.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 35 | 8 | 225.4 |
| 25 | Andrew Symonds | Aus | 174 | 226 | 167.2 | 59 | 53 | 1 | 7.4 | 5 | 1 | 49 | 10 | 223.6 |
| 26 | Ricky Ponting | Aus | 191 | 268 | 167.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 54 | 10 | 221.6 |
| 27 | Stuart Clark | Aus | 8 | 10 | 8 | 151 | 252 | 6 | 194.6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 207.6 |
| 28 | S Sreesanth | Ind | 9 | 13 | 7.6 | 232 | 242 | 9 | 177.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 185.2 |
| 29 | WPUJC Vaas | SL | 19 | 39 | 6.8 | 270 | 372 | 5 | 147.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 154.4 |
| 30 | ST Jayasuriya | SL | 103 | 116 | 113.2 | 42 | 37 | 1 | 11.6 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 8 | 153.8 |
| 31 | Robin Uthappa | Ind | 142 | 214 | 112.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 132.8 |
| 32 | KMDN Kulasekara | SL | 14 | 29 | 4.8 | 129 | 156 | 5 | 115.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 125.6 |
| 33 | Virender Sehwag | Ind | 81 | 103 | 79.6 | 66 | 78 | 1 | 20.4 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 5 | 117 |
| 34 | MF Maharoof | SL | 10 | 20 | 4 | 152 | 187 | 4 | 93.6 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 4 | 114.6 |
| 35 | CK Kapugedera | SL | 86 | 176 | 31.2 | 101 | 132 | 2 | 52.6 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 7 | 105.8 |
| 36 | Munaf Patel | Ind | 0 | 9 | -7.2 | 120 | 162 | 2 | 57.6 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 3 | 74.4 |
| 37 | Piyush Chawla | Ind | 6 | 2 | 10.4 | 78 | 114 | 0 | 13.2 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 38.6 |
| 38 | LPC Silva | SL | 79 | 171 | 21.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 36.2 |
| 39 | Dilruwan Perera | SL | 14 | 36 | -0.8 | 28 | 42 | 1 | 29.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 28.8 |
| 40 | Ashley Noffke | Aus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 54 | 1 | 21.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21.2 |
| 41 | WU Tharanga | SL | 10 | 18 | 5.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5.6 |
| 42 | Brad Haddin | Aus | 12 | 44 | -11.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | -6.2 |
| 43 | Manoj Tiwari | Ind | 2 | 16 | -8.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -8.8 |
While their bowlers did well, Australia's defeat in the finals was largely due to the collapse of its batting machinery. While Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds are in the bottom half of the list; even Matthew Hayden and Michael Clarke aren't in the top 10.
After his two wonderful knocks in the finals, Sachin Tendulkar proved to be India's most valuable player by a long mile in the 2007-08 ODI season. Almost a decade after his heady heroics of 1998, Tendulkar showed that he could still be the best. Tendulkar's ODI records will be almost as hard to surpass as Sir Donald Bradman's Test records.
Table 2: India's most valuable players of the 2007-08 season (36 matches)
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | batpts | Rc | Bb | W | bwlpts | Ct|St | Run Outs | fldpts | M | Total |
| 1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 1514 | 1820 | 1572 | 268 | 258 | 5 | 58.4 | 7 | 0.5 | 47 | 33 | 1677.4 |
| 2 | Yuvraj Singh | 1133 | 1353 | 1184 | 585 | 627 | 12 | 204.6 | 9 | 3 | 117 | 35 | 1505.2 |
| 3 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 1024 | 1309 | 1001 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38|13 | 5.5 | 452 | 34 | 1452.8 |
| 4 | Gautam Gambhir | 1003 | 1289 | 974.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 28 | 989.8 |
| 5 | Harbhajan Singh | 158 | 164 | 184.8 | 716 | 955 | 15 | 408 | 6 | 3 | 102 | 20 | 694.8 |
| 6 | Irfan Pathan | 249 | 358 | 211.6 | 929 | 1023 | 23 | 441.4 | 4 | 0.5 | 32 | 22 | 685 |
| 7 | Sourav Ganguly | 611 | 850 | 542 | 300 | 348 | 5 | 98.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 20 | 669.4 |
| 8 | Zaheer Khan | 148 | 208 | 129.6 | 1000 | 1160 | 22 | 456 | 2 | 2.5 | 70 | 22 | 655.6 |
| 9 | Robin Uthappa | 464 | 523 | 509.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 93 | 24 | 602.6 |
| 10 | R P Singh | 26 | 55 | 8 | 788 | 885 | 24 | 496 | 2 | 2 | 58 | 18 | 562 |
| 11 | Rahul Dravid | 462 | 554 | 480.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.5 | 62 | 20 | 542.8 |
| 12 | Piyush Chawla | 26 | 36 | 23.2 | 616 | 780 | 17 | 416 | 11 | 0.5 | 67 | 15 | 506.2 |
| 13 | S Sreesanth | 27 | 66 | 1.2 | 592 | 608 | 24 | 470.4 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 14 | 486.6 |
| 14 | Rohit Sharma | 296 | 385 | 284 | 8 | 12 | 0 | 1.6 | 8 | 1.5 | 76 | 14 | 361.6 |
| 15 | Ishant Sharma | 5 | 17 | -3.6 | 323 | 415 | 14 | 345 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 351.4 |
| 16 | Praveen Kumar | 25 | 28 | 27.6 | 225 | 300 | 10 | 255 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 5 | 316.6 |
| 17 | Ramesh Powar | 46 | 78 | 29.6 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286 |
| 18 | Virender Sehwag | 210 | 243 | 225.6 | 149 | 162 | 2 | 28.6 | 3 | 0.5 | 27 | 10 | 281.2 |
| 19 | Murali Kartik | 37 | 48 | 35.6 | 300 | 377 | 10 | 241.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 277.2 |
| 20 | Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 217 | 186.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12|1 | 0.5 | 82 | 13 | 268.4 |
| 21 | Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.6 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.2 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 233.8 |
| 22 | Munaf Patel | 1 | 12 | -7.6 | 328 | 378 | 8 | 166.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 8 | 187.8 |
| 23 | Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.2 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.6 |
| 24 | Manoj Tiwari | 2 | 16 | -8.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -8.8 |
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 and Debasish Ghosh work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.
