The T20 is often described as a young man's game; if you cross 30 you are supposed to be too old!
Is this hypothesis true? Is younger indeed better?
Over the weekend we compared the performance of the top 50 young players (aged up to 29), with the top 35 older players (aged 30 or more) in the first 28 matches of the DLF IPL.
More specifically, we looked at our two specific indices: MVPI and PVI.
The most valuable player index (MVPI) converts the batting, bowling and fielding performance into a total 'run-equivalent'. So the higher the MVPI, the better a player is performing.
The paisa vasool index (PVI) is obtained by dividing the money paid to a player so far by the player's MVPI. So the lower the PVI, the greater the value offered by the player.
Our analysis indicates that the best young players win on both counts: they contribute more and cost much less.
We found that the best young players have a MVPI of 176, while the best older players have a MVPI of 127, i.e. almost 50 "runs" less.
We also found that the best young players are three times cheaper than the best older players; the paisa vasool index of young players is 821, and that of older players is 2410.
Tables 1 and 2 provide the details.
Table 1: The performance of 50 top players below 30 in the first 28 DLF IPL matches
| Player | Team | From | M | MVPI | MA | PVI | Age |
| Shane Watson | RR | AUS | 7 | 417.6667 | 7 | 150 | 27 |
| V Sehwag | DD | IND | 7 | 399.6667 | 7 | 1043 | 29 |
| Gautam Gambhir | DD | IND | 7 | 323.3333 | 7 | 1121 | 26 |
| Rohit Sharma | DC | IND | 7 | 309.3333 | 7 | 1212 | 20 |
| Irfan Pathan | KXI | IND | 7 | 302 | 7 | 1531 | 23 |
| MS Dhoni | CSK | IND | 8 | 254 | 8 | 3375 | 26 |
| Yuvraj Singh | KXI | IND | 7 | 249 | 7 | 2136 | 26 |
| B McCullum | KKR | NZ | 4 | 247.3333 | 4 | 809 | 26 |
| Yusuf Pathan | RR | IND | 7 | 239 | 7 | 994 | 25 |
| Zaheer Khan | BRC | IND | 8 | 238.3333 | 8 | 1079 | 29 |
| Praveen Kumar | BRC | IND | 8 | 225 | 8 | 76 | 21 |
| Suresh Raina | CSK | IND | 8 | 223.3333 | 8 | 1663 | 21 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | DD | IND | 7 | 212 | 7 | 71 | 22 |
| Robin Uthappa | MI | IND | 7 | 207.3333 | 7 | 1929 | 22 |
| Dwayne Bravo | MI | WI | 6 | 204.6667 | 6 | 314 | 24 |
| Albie Morkel | CSK | SA | 5 | 198.3333 | 8 | 1873 | 27 |
| Piyush Chawla | KXI | IND | 7 | 195.3333 | 7 | 1024 | 19 |
| Manpreet Gony | CSK | IND | 8 | 193 | 8 | 89 | 24 |
| Ross Taylor | BRC | NZ | 4 | 190 | 5 | 188 | 24 |
| Shahid Afridi | DC | PAK | 6 | 182.3333 | 6 | 1587 | 28 |
| RP Singh | DC | IND | 7 | 182 | 7 | 2404 | 22 |
| Prasanta Saha | KKR | IND | 6 | 181.3333 | 7 | 83 | 23 |
| Shaun Marsh | KXI | AUS | 3 | 175.3333 | 7 | 86 | 25 |
| Ashish Nehra | MI | IND | 7 | 170 | 7 | 88 | 29 |
| Sohail Tanvir | RR | PAK | 4 | 151.3333 | 5 | 236 | 23 |
| Yo Mahesh | DD | IND | 6 | 150.6667 | 7 | 100 | 20 |
| Rajat Bhatia | DD | IND | 6 | 150.6667 | 7 | 100 | 28 |
| Dhawal Kulkarni | MI | IND | 7 | 147.6667 | 7 | 939 | 19 |
| Harbhajan Singh | MI | IND | 3 | 147.3333 | 3 | 970 | 28 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | RR | IND | 7 | 139.3333 | 7 | 967 | 19 |
| Graeme Smith | RR | SA | 5 | 136 | 5 | 960 | 27 |
| James Hopes | KXI | AUS | 4 | 134.3333 | 7 | 949 | 29 |
| Swapnil Asnodkar | RR | IND | 3 | 132.6667 | 7 | 923 | 24 |
| Ashok Dinda | KKR | IND | 7 | 128 | 7 | 806 | 24 |
| S Sreesanth | KXI | IND | 7 | 125 | 7 | 740 | 25 |
| Abhishek Nayar | MI | IND | 7 | 124 | 7 | 736 | 24 |
| Ishant Sharma | KKR | IND | 7 | 119 | 7 | 722 | 19 |
| Laxmi Shukla | KKR | IND | 7 | 116 | 7 | 701 | 27 |
| S Vidyut | CSK | IND | 3 | 114.6667 | 8 | 740 | 26 |
| S Badrinath | CSK | IND | 8 | 112.6667 | 8 | 678 | 27 |
| Pragyan Ojha | DC | IND | 7 | 112 | 7 | 721 | 21 |
| Joginder Sharma | CSK | IND | 7 | 111.6667 | 8 | 628 | 24 |
| Virat Kohli | BRC | IND | 8 | 107.6667 | 8 | 655 | 19 |
| Dale Steyn | BRC | SA | 5 | 101.3333 | 6 | 544 | 24 |
| Umar Gul | KKR | PAK | 3 | 98.66667 | 5 | 496 | 24 |
| Vikram Singh | KXI | IND | 5 | 94.33333 | 7 | 541 | 23 |
| Farveez Maharoof | DD | SL | 3 | 94 | 7 | 585 | 23 |
| Mohd Asif | DD | PAK | 6 | 89.66667 | 6 | 442 | 25 |
| Dinesh Karthik | DD | IND | 7 | 85.33333 | 7 | 115 | 23 |
| Munaf Patel | RR | IND | 7 | 80.66667 | 7 | 122 | 25 |
DD: Delhi Daredevils | CSK: Chennai Super Kings | DC: Deccan Chargers | RCB: Royal Challengers Bangalore | RR: Rajasthan Royals | KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders | KXI: Kings XI Punjab | MI: Mumbai Indians
M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index | MA: Matches available | PVI: Paisa vasool index; dollars paid for every run equivalent scored
Table 2: The performance of 35 top players aged 30 or more in the first 28 DLF IPL matches
| Player | Team | From | M | MVPI | MA | PVI | Age |
| Adam Gilchrist | DC | AUS | 7 | 271.3333 | 7 | 1290 | 36 |
| K Sangakkara | KXI | SL | 6 | 268.6667 | 7 | 1303 | 30 |
| Shaun Pollock | MI | SA | 7 | 234 | 7 | 1175 | 34 |
| S Jayasuriya | MI | SL | 7 | 222.3333 | 7 | 2193 | 39 |
| David Hussey | KKR | AUS | 7 | 222 | 7 | 1520 | 30 |
| Michael Hussey | CSK | AUS | 4 | 210.6667 | 4 | 475 | 32 |
| Matthew Hayden | CSK | AUS | 3 | 203.3333 | 4 | 527 | 36 |
| Shane Warne | RR | AUS | 7 | 201.6667 | 7 | 1116 | 38 |
| Mark Boucher | BRC | SA | 7 | 180.6667 | 8 | 1423 | 31 |
| Ajit Agarkar | KKR | IND | 6 | 170 | 7 | 971 | 30 |
| Glenn McGrath | DD | AUS | 7 | 166.3333 | 7 | 1052 | 38 |
| Andrew Symonds | DC | AUS | 4 | 147.6667 | 4 | 2612 | 33 |
| Rahul Dravid | BRC | IND | 8 | 147.3333 | 8 | 4014 | 35 |
| VVS Laxman | DC | IND | 6 | 146 | 7 | 1284 | 33 |
| Sourav Ganguly | KKR | IND | 7 | 137.3333 | 7 | 3978 | 36 |
| Jacques Kallis | BRC | SA | 7 | 132.6667 | 8 | 3877 | 32 |
| M Muralitharan | CSK | SL | 7 | 127 | 8 | 2700 | 36 |
| Brett Lee | KXI | AUS | 4 | 114 | 5 | 2820 | 31 |
| M Jayawardene | KXI | SL | 6 | 112.6667 | 7 | 2108 | 31 |
| Wasim Jaffer | BRC | IND | 5 | 104 | 8 | 824 | 30 |
| Simon Katich | KXI | AUS | 2 | 100 | 5 | 714 | 32 |
| Murali Kartik | KKR | IND | 5 | 99.33333 | 7 | 2139 | 31 |
| Sanjay Bangar | DC | IND | 7 | 97 | 7 | 155 | 35 |
| Scott Styris | DC | NZ | 3 | 80 | 7 | 1094 | 32 |
| Chaminda Vaas | DC | SL | 3 | 69.66667 | 7 | 1435 | 34 |
| Stephen Fleming | CSK | NZ | 4 | 63.33333 | 4 | 1579 | 35 |
| Nuwan Zoysa | DC | SL | 2 | 37.33333 | 7 | 1473 | 30 |
| Balachandra Akhil | BRC | IND | 3 | 33.66667 | 8 | 509 | 30 |
| J Arunkumar | BRC | IND | 1 | 21.33333 | 8 | 804 | 33 |
| Brad Hodge | KKR | AUS | 3 | 21.33333 | 7 | 703 | 33 |
| H Gibbs | DC | SA | 3 | 17.33333 | 7 | 16587 | 34 |
| Ricky Ponting | KKR | AUS | 4 | 15.33333 | 4 | 7453 | 33 |
| Makhaya Ntini | CSK | SA | 3 | 15 | 8 | 7619 | 31 |
DD: Delhi Daredevils | CSK: Chennai Super Kings | DC: Deccan Chargers | RCB: Royal Challengers Bangalore | RR: Rajasthan Royals | KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders | KXI: Kings XI Punjab | MI: Mumbai Indians
M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index | MA: Matches available | PVI: Paisa vasool index; dollars paid for every run equivalent scored.
Srinivas Bhogle, Purnendu Maji and Arthur DSilva work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.
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