Tendulkar just ahead of Yuvraj Singh

Sachin Tendulkar is just a whisker ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the race to be India's most valuable player (MVP) of the 2007-08 ODI season. The battle between India's two best ODI players will resume when the India-Australia-Sri Lanka triangular series starts in February 2008.

Table 1: India's most valuable players of the 2007-08 season (26 matches so far)

Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct\|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
Sachin Tendulkar	1115	1352	1148	247	234	5	60.2	5	0.5	37	23	1245.6
Yuvraj Singh	931	1114	970.8	465	471	11	175.8	7	2.5	95	26	1241.6
Mahendra Singh Dhoni	677	840	682	0	0	0	0	19\|11	4.5	313	24	995
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
Goutam Gambhir	563	757	520.4	0	0	0	0	2	0	10	18	530.4
Robin Uthappa	322	309	396.8	0	0	0	0	5	2	73	14	469.8
Piyush Chawla	20	34	12.8	538	666	17	402.8	8	0.5	52	13	467.6
Irfan Pathan	131	176	121.2	552	611	12	224.8	3	0	15	12	361
Harbhajan Singh	101	119	106.8	439	564	7	180.2	5	0	25	10	312
Sreesanth	18	53	-6.4	360	366	15	292.8	3	0	15	7	301.4
Ramesh Powar	46	78	29.6	528	668	10	246.4	2	0	10	13	286
Murali Kartik	37	48	35.6	300	377	10	241.6	0	0	0	7	277.2
Dinesh Karthik	180	217	186.4	0	0	0	0	12	0.5	82	13	268.4
Ajit Agarkar	19	38	7.6	415	414	12	204.2	2	0.5	22	8	233.8
Virender Sehwag	129	140	146	83	84	1	8.2	2	0	10	5	164.2
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	61	74	62.8	3	6	0	1.8	3	0	15	4	79.6
Praveen Kumar	12	13	13.6	50	60	0	-2	0	0	0	1	11.6
Ishant Sharma	0	0	0	38	42	0	-4.4	0	0	0	1	-4.4

Some readers have asked if it isn't better to look at the average points per match, instead of the total points. The average points can sometimes give awkward results, especially if the players have played only a handful of matches. India's five most valuable players based on average points would be: Sachin Tendulkar (54.2) | Yuvraj Singh (47.8) | Dinesh Mongia (43.8) | S Sreesanth (43.1) | M S Dhoni (41.5).

The next table lists the most valuable players of the recently-concluded India-Pakistan ODI series.

Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the India-Pakistan series (5 matches)

Rank	Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct\|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
1	Yuvraj Singh	272	345	268	77	96	3	71.8	2	1.5	46	5	385.8
2	Sachin Tendulkar	259	254	314.8	54	42	2	27.6	0	0	0	5	342.4
3	Mohammad Yousuf	283	323	307.6	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	5	312.6
4	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	185	216	197.2	0	0	0	0	1\|4	2	93	5	290.2
5	Salman Butt	252	300	264	16	9	0	-8.8	0	0.5	12	5	267.2
6	Younis Khan	231	278	239.6	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	4	244.6
7	Sohail Tanvir	23	17	32.4	178	221	8	190.8	2	0	10	4	233.2
8	Misbah-ul-Haq	176	173	213.6	0	0	0	0	3	0	15	5	228.6
9	Shoaib Malik	159	205	154	141	138	3	41.4	0	1	24	5	219.4
10	Harbhajan Singh	48	30	72	178	240	4	110	2	0	10	4	192
11	Irfan Pathan	72	68	89.6	270	287	5	79.6	2	0	10	5	179.2
12	Shoaib Akhtar	1	2	0.4	183	228	7	167.4	0	0	0	4	167.8
13	Goutam Gambhir	141	196	125.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	5	130.2
14	R P Singh	1	1	1.2	216	216	6	100.8	0	0.5	12	4	114
15	Shahid Afridi	73	57	100.4	223	222	2	2.6	2	0	10	4	113
16	Zaheer Khan	9	18	3.6	185	218	5	109.4	0	0	0	4	113
17	Umar Gul	2	2	2.4	243	270	5	93	1	0	5	5	100.4
18	Sourav Ganguly	89	109	90.8	84	84	1	7.2	0	0	0	4	98
19	Sreesanth	10	16	7.2	52	60	3	68	1	0	5	1	80.2
20	Virender Sehwag	78	93	81.6	37	36	0	-8.2	0	0	0	3	73.4
21	Kamran Akmal	29	54	14.8	0	0	0	0	4\|0	1.5	56	4	70.8
22	Murali Kartik	16	10	24	136	156	2	36.8	0	0	0	3	60.8
23	Rohit Sharma	52	61	55.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	1	60.2
24	Abdur Rehman	2	6	-0.8	112	102	3	41.6	0	0	0	2	40.8
25	Iftikhar Anjum	0	0	0	201	210	3	39	0	0	0	4	39
26	Fawad Alam	32	23	45.6	56	60	0	-8	0	0	0	1	37.6
27	Robin Uthappa	31	40	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	30
28	Imran Nazir	20	40	8	0	0	0	0	2	0	10	1	18
29	Praveen Kumar	12	13	13.6	50	60	0	-2	0	0	0	1	11.6
30	Sarfraz Ahmed(WK)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2\|0	0	10	1	10
31	Yasir Hameed	1	5	-2	0	0	0	0	1	0	5	1	3