India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is so far the most valuable player (MVP) in the ongoing India-Australia seven-match One-Day International series, with Michael Hussey just behind him.
Harbhajan Singh is third on the list, chiefly because of his explosive batting. In fact, Harbhajan has contributed as much with the bat as with the ball. Is this a reason to celebrate or worry?
Australia captain Ricky Ponting is fourth on the list with his solid batting and has so far looked better than Sachin Tendulkar, but there are still three matches to go.
Table 1: The most valuable players so far in the India-Australia ODI series (4 matches so far)
| Player | Team | Runs | Six | Four | Strike Rate | Bat Pts | W | Eco | Bowl Pts | Field Pts | M | MVPI |
| MS Dhoni | IND | 254 | 3 | 21 | 86.4 | 263.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 40.5 | 4 | 304 |
| Michael Hussey | AUS | 247 | 3 | 19 | 104.2 | 296.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 4 | 297 |
| Harbhajan Singh | IND | 81 | 4 | 9 | 142.1 | 114.5 | 5 | 5.1 | 121.0 | 0 | 4 | 236 |
| Ricky Ponting | AUS | 197 | 3 | 19 | 78.2 | 184.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 41.5 | 4 | 226 |
| Shane Watson | AUS | 114 | 0 | 15 | 79.7 | 108.8 | 5 | 6.4 | 92.3 | 12 | 4 | 213 |
| Nathan Hauritz | AUS | 39 | 0 | 3 | 90.7 | 42.2 | 4 | 4.4 | 123.0 | 29 | 4 | 194 |
| Yuvraj Singh | IND | 113 | 3 | 10 | 80.1 | 108.5 | 2 | 4.7 | 57.0 | 25 | 3 | 191 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | IND | 12 | 0 | 1 | 35.3 | -4.3 | 6 | 4.5 | 165.5 | 29 | 4 | 190 |
| Ashish Nehra | IND | 9 | 0 | 1 | 90.0 | 9.7 | 6 | 5.5 | 134.0 | 37.5 | 4 | 181 |
| Mitchell Johnson | AUS | 52 | 2 | 4 | 96.3 | 59.0 | 6 | 6.5 | 90.7 | 29 | 4 | 179 |
| Gautam Gambhir | IND | 150 | 1 | 12 | 83.3 | 150.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 3 | 154 |
| Praveen Kumar | IND | 57 | 1 | 8 | 109.6 | 70.7 | 2 | 5.3 | 40.7 | 41.5 | 4 | 153 |
| Suresh Raina | IND | 97 | 2 | 7 | 94.2 | 108.2 | 1 | 5.8 | 20.0 | 8 | 4 | 136 |
| Virender Sehwag | IND | 94 | 1 | 17 | 109.3 | 116.3 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 12.5 | 4 | 129 |
| Cameron White | AUS | 136 | 2 | 9 | 72.3 | 115.3 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | 119 |
| Ishant Sharma | IND | 3 | 0 | 0 | 37.5 | -0.7 | 5 | 5.4 | 115.0 | 4 | 4 | 118 |
| Doug Bollinger | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | -0.8 | 3 | 3.3 | 107.0 | 0 | 2 | 106 |
| Adam Voges | AUS | 56 | 0 | 2 | 68.3 | 43.7 | 1 | 3.5 | 40.0 | 0 | 3 | 84 |
| Tim Paine | AUS | 58 | 0 | 10 | 76.3 | 52.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 24.5 | 2 | 77 |
| Peter Siddle | AUS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 40.0 | -0.3 | 2 | 4.9 | 54.0 | 12.5 | 4 | 66 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | IND | 90 | 0 | 11 | 59.2 | 53.3 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 4 | 53 |
| Virat Kohli | IND | 40 | 0 | 4 | 70.2 | 32.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 2 | 37 |
| G Manou | AUS | 7 | 0 | 0 | 116.7 | 9.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 24.5 | 2 | 34 |
| Brett Lee | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | -2.5 | 1 | 4.7 | 27.0 | 4 | 1 | 29 |
| M Henrique | AUS | 18 | 0 | 0 | 60.0 | 11.0 | 1 | 5.6 | 16.0 | 0 | 2 | 27 |
| Ben Hilfenhaus | AUS | 16 | 0 | 2 | 133.3 | 22.0 | 1 | 8.3 | -8.0 | 8 | 1 | 22 |
| James Hopes | AUS | 14 | 1 | 1 | 155.6 | 20.5 | 0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
| Shaun Marsh | AUS | 26 | 1 | 1 | 59.1 | 15.3 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | MVPI: 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.
India captain Dhoni has also overtaken Ashish Nehra to become India's MVP in the current 2009-10 season, and Yuvraj Singh at third is also closing on quite rapidly. Table 2 provides the details.
Table 2: India's most valuable players in the 2009-10 ODI season (14 matches so far)
| Player | Runs | Six | Four | Strike Rate | Bat Pts | W | Eco | Bowl Pts | Field Pts | M | MVPI |
| MS Dhoni | 538 | 7 | 38 | 81.8 | 527.7 | 1 | 7.0 | 21.0 | 137.5 | 14 | 686 |
| Ashish Nehra | 10 | 0 | 1 | 58.8 | 5.8 | 24 | 5.3 | 566.8 | 45.5 | 14 | 618 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 377 | 12 | 36 | 98.7 | 435.7 | 6 | 5.0 | 148.0 | 17 | 12 | 601 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 126 | 6 | 10 | 108.6 | 155.3 | 17 | 5.2 | 403.2 | 32 | 14 | 591 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 270 | 4 | 22 | 94.7 | 302.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 49.5 | 10 | 352 |
| Suresh Raina | 196 | 6 | 16 | 95.6 | 221.2 | 3 | 4.6 | 83.0 | 20 | 10 | 324 |
| Ishant Sharma | 16 | 0 | 2 | 44.4 | 2.0 | 14 | 5.6 | 296.5 | 12 | 12 | 311 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 309 | 1 | 33 | 79.8 | 295.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 9 | 300 |
| Praveen Kumar | 58 | 1 | 8 | 101.8 | 68.5 | 2 | 4.7 | 67.7 | 45.5 | 7 | 182 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 19 | 0 | 2 | 40.4 | -1.2 | 6 | 4.6 | 164.5 | 9 | 6 | 172 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 47 | 2 | 2 | 72.3 | 39.8 | 7 | 6.7 | 114.0 | 4 | 8 | 158 |
| Rahul Dravid | 180 | 2 | 11 | 68.7 | 141.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 12 | 6 | 154 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 172 | 2 | 17 | 72.3 | 145.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 7 | 150 |
| Virender Sehwag | 94 | 1 | 17 | 109.3 | 116.3 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 12.5 | 4 | 129 |
| Rohit Sharma | 15 | 0 | 0 | 65.2 | 10.8 | 3 | 3.8 | 86.0 | 20.5 | 4 | 117 |
| RP Singh | 44 | 1 | 3 | 41.5 | -0.3 | 5 | 5.9 | 84.0 | 29 | 8 | 113 |
| Virat Kohli | 121 | 0 | 4 | 74.2 | 106.2 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 4 | 110 |
| Amit Mishra | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 1 | 4.5 | 28.0 | 4 | 1 | 32 |
| Abhishek Nayar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | -5.8 | 0 | 5.7 | -2.0 | 0 | 3 | -8 |
Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | MVPI: 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.
