The most valuable IPL players over the years

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji look back at the four earlier editions of the IPL and see which players were most valuable, and offered the best value for money

As another IPL gets ready to take off, it might be a good idea to look back at the four earlier editions and see which players were most valuable, and offered the best value for money.

To determine the most valuable players, we look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) which collapses a player's batting, bowling and fielding performance into a single statistic -- which we could continue to call 'runs' (within quotes).

We have found that a good way to measure a player's value is to use the paisa vasool index. To calculate the paisa vasool index, we divide a player's salary by his MVPI. For example, Kallis' MVPI, totaled over the 16 matches he was available for in IPL3, was 780 'runs'. His IPL3 price was $900,000. After dividing $900,000 by 780 we get 1153. For every 'run' that Kallis scored, he earned $1153!

A paisa vasool index of 1153 constitutes a very good performance. After tracking the paisa vasool index, which we shall henceforth abbreviate to PVI, we have concluded that a PVI of 1500 is a kind of par for IPL players who come in via the auction route.'

In the four tables below, we list the 25 most valuable players of the four previous IPLs and their PVI.

IPL1 in 2008

Rank	Player Name	Team	From	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	PVI
1	Shane Watson	RR	AUS	472	151.8	17	7.1	15	876	143
2	S Jayasuriya	MI	SL	514	166.3	4	7.6	14	729	1337
3	Yusuf Pathan	RR	IND	435	179.0	8	8.2	16	697	681
4	Shaun Marsh	KXI	AUS	616	139.7	0	-	11	672	45
5	V Sehwag	DD	IND	406	185.4	3	12.1	14	575	1450
6	Gautam Gambhir	DD	IND	534	140.9	0	-	14	571	1270
7	Albie Morkel	CSK	SA	241	147.9	17	8.3	13	534	1218
8	Suresh Raina	CSK	IND	421	142.7	1	9.0	16	525	1237
9	Sohail Tanvir	RR	PAK	36	124.1	24	6.5	11	505	170
10	Rohit Sharma	DC	IND	404	148.0	1	6.3	13	499	1503
11	Adam Gilchrist	DC	AUS	436	137.1	0	-	14	492	1423
12	MS Dhoni	CSK	IND	414	133.5	0	-	16	471	3187
13	Irfan Pathan	KXI	IND	131	112.9	15	6.6	14	468	1975
14	Maharoof	DD	SL	125	158.2	15	6.9	10	452	498
15	Yuvraj Singh	KXI	IND	299	162.5	3	9.3	14	449	2371
16	Sourav Ganguly	KKR	IND	349	113.7	6	6.4	13	437	2502
17	Shane Warne	RR	AUS	70	118.6	19	7.8	15	417	1078
18	K Sangakkara	KXI	SL	320	161.6	0	-	10	408	1716
19	Graeme Smith	RR	SA	441	121.8	0	-	11	407	1000
20	Shaun Pollock	MI	SA	147	132.4	11	6.7	13	394	1395
21	Piyush Chawla	KXI	IND	90	152.5	18	8.9	15	390	1027
22	Manpreet Gony	CSK	IND	35	184.2	17	7.4	16	378	79
23	Dwayne Bravo	MI	WI	178	132.8	11	8.2	9	372	259
24	Rahul Dravid	RCB	IND	371	124.5	0	-	14	361	2870
25	S Asnodkar	RR	IND	311	133.5	0	-	9	331	91

IPL2 in 2009 (in South Africa)

Rank	Player Name	Team	From	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	PVI
1	Adam Gilchrist	DC	AUS	495	152.3	0	-	16	753	956
2	M Hayden	CSK	AUS	572	144.8	0	-	12	678	537
3	Suresh Raina	CSK	IND	434	140.9	7	5.9	14	667	975
4	AB de Villiers	DD	SA	512	130.6	0	-	15	609	500
5	Rohit Sharma	DC	IND	326	115.2	11	7	16	510	1513
6	Brad Hodge	KKR	AUS	365	117.7	7	8.1	12	467	208
7	Irfan Pathan	KXI	IND	196	124.1	17	7.7	14	453	2042
8	J-P Duminy	MI	SA	372	114.5	4	5.8	13	450	2083
9	Yuvraj Singh	KXI	IND	340	115.3	6	7.1	14	444	2394
10	Anil Kumble	RCB	IND	16	84.2	21	5.9	16	436	1180
11	Dinesh Karthik	DD	IND	288	132.7	0	-	15	433	1231
12	A Symonds	DC	AUS	249	150	7	6.7	8	420	1655
13	Yusuf Pathan	RR	IND	243	132.8	7	6.9	13	412	1136
14	Jacques Kallis	RCB	SA	362	109	6	7.7	15	411	2221
15	T Dilshan	DD	SL	371	122	0	6.1	14	408	613
16	RP Singh	DC	IND	8	47.1	23	7	16	406	2218
17	MS Dhoni	CSK	IND	332	127.2	0	-	14	400	3752
18	Dwayne Bravo	MI	WI	218	107.4	11	7.8	10	395	358
19	Ravindra Jadeja	RR	IND	295	110.9	6	6.5	13	395	75
20	Harbhajan Singh	MI	IND	84	158.5	12	5.8	13	383	2189
21	Sachin Tendulkar	MI	IND	364	120.1	0	9.7	13	375	2945
22	M Muralitharan	CSK	SL	8	100	14	5.2	13	361	1638
23	Ashish Nehra	DD	IND	1	100	19	6.8	12	349	1113
24	Lasith Malinga	MI	SL	0	0	18	6.3	13	344	1004
25	Herschelle Gibbs	DC	SA	328	107.5	0	-	14	341	1685

IPL3 in 2010

Rank	Player Name	Team	From	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	PVI
1	Suresh Raina	CSK	IND	524	143.6	6	7.5	16	784	829
2	Jacques Kallis	RCB	SA	572	115.8	13	8.4	16	780	1153
3	Kieron Pollard	MI	WI	273	185.7	15	7.4	14	772	972
4	Andrew Symonds	DC	AUS	429	125.8	12	7	16	755	1787
5	Sachin Tendulkar	MI	IND	618	132.9	0	-	15	631	1777
6	Yusuf Pathan	RR	IND	333	165.7	5	7.2	14	589	806
7	Murali Vijay	CSK	IND	458	156.8	0	-	15	588	85
8	Robin Uthappa	RCB	IND	376	172.5	0	-	16	581	1376
9	Irfan Pathan	KXI	IND	276	148.4	15	9.2	14	579	1599
10	Harbhajan Singh	MI	IND	105	166.7	17	7	15	557	1526
11	M Jayawardene	KXI	SL	439	147.3	0	-	13	536	887
12	Virender Sehwag	DD	IND	356	163.3	3	4.1	14	514	1623
13	Rohit Sharma	DC	IND	404	133.8	2	8.1	16	499	1502
14	Ambati Rayudu	MI	IND	356	144.7	0	-	14	489	61
15	K Sangakkara	KXI	SL	357	138.9	0	-	13	486	1439
16	Amit Mishra	DD	IND	39	76.5	17	6.8	14	481	62
17	Pragyan Ojha	DC	IND	3	37.5	21	7.3	16	477	63
18	Sourav Ganguly	KKR	IND	493	117.7	0	10.8	14	471	2318
19	Albie Morkel	CSK	SA	198	151.1	11	8.5	14	471	1381
20	Naman Ojha	RR	IND	377	132.3	0	-	14	452	66
21	Anil Kumble	RCB	IND	6	54.5	17	6.4	16	452	1106
22	Saurabh Tiwary	MI	IND	419	135.6	0	-	16	451	89
23	Adam Gilchrist	DC	AUS	289	156.2	0	-	16	446	1568
24	MS Dhoni	CSK	IND	287	136.7	0	-	13	425	3529
25	CH Gayle	KKR	WI	292	158.7	4	9.5	9	405	1553

IPL4 in 2011

Rank	Player Name	Team	From	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	PVI
1	CH Gayle	RCB	WI	608	183.1	8	6.8	12	953	240
2	Lasith Malinga	MI	SL	8	88.9	28	6	16	629	738
3	Yusuf Pathan	KKR	IND	283	140.8	13	6.1	15	608	3207
4	Paul Valthaty	KXI	IND	463	137	7	7.8	14	600	73
5	Shaun Marsh	KXI	AUS	504	146.5	0	-	14	573	698
6	Virender Sehwag	DD	IND	424	176.7	0	-	11	564	3191
7	Virat Kohli	RCB	IND	557	121.1	2	8.2	16	558	2997
8	MS Dhoni	CSK	IND	392	158.7	0	-	16	551	3035
9	Yuvraj Singh	PWS	IND	343	131.4	9	6.6	14	550	3273
10	Suresh Raina	CSK	IND	438	134.8	4	7.3	16	546	2212
11	Jacques Kallis	KKR	SA	424	112.2	7	7.1	15	522	1957
12	Shane Watson	RR	AUS	330	130.4	6	6.7	11	490	2276
13	Sachin Tendulkar	MI	IND	553	113.3	0	-	16	487	3430
14	Ravindra Jadeja	KTK	IND	283	124.1	8	7.3	14	465	2043
15	R Ashwin	CSK	IND	2	33.3	20	6.2	16	456	1731
16	Michael Hussey	CSK	AUS	492	118.8	0	-	14	456	865
17	Amit Mishra	DC	IND	68	138.8	19	6.7	14	451	665
18	Munaf Patel	MI	IND	0	0	22	6.6	15	439	1480
19	Adam Gilchrist	KXI	AUS	383	129.8	0	-	14	437	2061
20	Murali Vijay	CSK	IND	434	128	0	-	16	436	1917
21	Shikhar Dhawan	DC	IND	400	129	1	5.5	14	432	695
22	Rahul Sharma	PWS	IND	24	114.3	16	5.5	14	431	51
23	Harbhajan Singh	MI	IND	103	145.1	14	7	15	413	2921
24	K Sangakkara	DC	SL	358	122.2	0	-	13	409	1710
25	Jesse Ryder	PWS	NZ	292	148.2	4	7.7	13	406	369

The most valuable IPL players over the years

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