Symonds showing his value

Andrew Symonds is having a fantastic ODI series so far against India: he has scored 258 runs in just 241 balls, at a remarkable strike rate of 107. After the fourth match of the 7-match ODI series, Symonds appears to be the favourite to win the player of the series award, especially if he can also pick up a few wickets.

It must be a surprise to see Ricky Ponting and Rahul Dravid, both such accomplished batsmen, low down in the list. It's also a surprise to see two Aussie non-regulars: James Hopes and Brad Haddin in the top 7.

Table 1: The most valuable players so far in the India-Australia series (4 matches)

Rank	Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
1	Andrew Symonds	258	241	323.20	39	42	0	-5.40	1	0	5	4	322.80
2	Michael Clarke	222	256	239.20	35	54	2	56.20	0	12	12	4	307.40
3	Mathew Hayden	261	290	290.00				0.00	2	0	10	4	300.00
4	Yuvraj Singh	170	180	196.00	99	96	2	25.80	1	0	5	4	226.80
5	James Hopes	75	60	102.00	119	156	4	101.80	0	0	0	4	203.80
6	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	141	160	154.00				0.00	3 | 3	0	45	4	199.00
7	Brad Haddin	156	152	190.40				0.00	0	0	0	2	190.40
8	Brad Hogg	0	1	-0.80	132	165	6	144.00	1	12	17	4	160.20
9	S Sreesanth	8	37	-13.60	180	168	8	146.40	2	0	10	3	142.80
10	Irfan Pathan	4	11	-0.80	188	228	5	114.40	1	0	5	4	118.60
11	Brett Lee	7	11	5.20	111	142	3	74.60	1	24	29	4	108.80
12	Robin Uthappa	71	51	101.20				0.00	1	0	5	3	106.20
13	Sachin Tendulkar	138	221	99.20	44	42	0	-10.40	2	0	10	4	98.80
14	Zaheer Khan	6	18	-2.40	248	234	5	59.20	2	24	34	4	90.80
15	Adam Gilchrist	59	64	66.80				0.00	2 | 1	0	20	4	86.80
16	Mitchell Johnson	0	0	0.00	149	168	4	81.40	1	0	5	4	86.40
17	Stuart Clark	0	0	0.00	58	88	3	84.40	0	0	0	3	84.40
18	Harbhajan Singh	23	32	20.40	138	180	2	54.00	1	0	5	3	79.40
19	Ricky Ponting	54	76	47.20				0.00	1	0	5	2	52.20
20	Rahul Dravid	44	66	35.20				0.00	2	0	10	4	45.20
21	R P Singh	0	0	0.00	133	120	2	11.00	0	24	24	2	35.00
22	Sourav Ganguly	41	59	34.80	7	6	0	-2.20	0	0	0	2	32.60
23	Murali Kartik	0	0	0.00	48	60	1	24.00	0	0	0	1	24.00
24	Goutam Gambhir	17	34	6.80				0.00	0	0	0	3	6.80
25	Brad Hodge	23	51	5.20	18	12	0	-8.40	2	0	10	4	6.80
26	Rohit Sharma	1	4	-1.20				0.00	0	0	0	1	-1.20
27	Nathan Bracken	0	0	0.00	78	60	1	-6.00	0	0	0	1	-6.00
28	Ramesh Powar	17	18	19.60	80	66	0	-27.20	0	0	0	2	-7.60

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.

India's top five players in the current (2007) season remain unchanged. It is now noticeable that the strike rates of both Sachin Tendulkar (78 this season; career rate of 85) and Sourav Ganguly (70 this season; career rate of 74) are falling, while Rahul Dravid's strike rate (84; career rate of 71) is actually going up.

Table 1: India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (18 matches)

Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
Yuvraj Singh	637	725	694.00	373	369	8	114.20	5	24	49	18	857.20
Sachin Tendulkar	716	917	698.40	162	150	3	30.00	3	12	27	15	755.40
Mahendra Singh Dhoni	457	577	452.40				0.00	16|7	48	198	16	650.40
Rahul Dravid	455	540	478.00				0.00	7	12	47	18	525.00
Sourav Ganguly	436	619	376.80	192	252	4	105.60	1	24	29	13	511.40
Piyush Chawla	20	34	12.80	538	666	17	402.80	8	12	52	13	467.60
Zaheer Khan	77	100	74.00	708	810	14	276.00	2	48	58	15	408.00
Goutam Gambhir	422	561	395.20				0.00	1	0	5	13	400.20
R P Singh	13	27	4.40	498	606	15	346.80	1	36	41	12	392.20
Robin Uthappa	195	176	249.20				0.00	3	24	39	6	288.20
Ramesh Powar	46	78	29.60	528	668	10	246.40	2	0	10	13	286.00
Dinesh Karthik	180	211	191.20				0.00	11	12	77	12	268.20
Ajit Agarkar	19	38	7.60	415	414	12	204.20	2	12	22	8	233.80
Sreesanth	8	37	-13.60	244	258	11	226.40	2	0	10	5	222.80
Irfan Pathan	4	11	-0.80	188	228	5	114.40	1	0	5	4	118.60
Munaf Patel	1	3	-0.40	208	216	6	108.80	1	0	5	5	113.40
Virender Sehwag	51	47	64.40	46	48	1	16.40	2	0	10	2	90.80
Dinesh Mongia	34	41	35.20	106	108	3	52.40	0	0	0	2	87.60
Harbhajan Singh	23	32	20.40	138	180	2	54.00	1	0	5	3	79.40
Murali Kartik	0	0	0.00	48	60	1	24.00	0	0	0	1	24.00
Rohit Sharma	9	13	7.60	3	6	0	1.80	2	0	10	3	19.40
Ishant Sharma	0	0	0.00	38	42	0	-4.40	0	0	0	1	-4.40

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, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.