Shane Warne was pretty blunt when he stated that the Rajasthan Royals' top order batsmen have to fire. One guesses that he was referring to Graeme Smith, although Swapnil Asnodkar too is discovering that it is not easy to tee off on South African pitches.
Who's not paisa vasool?
Here is a list of cricketers who are not offering value for money so far in the second season of the Indian Premier League. We must note, however, that a couple of good knocks or good spells can quickly change numbers. It turns out that South African captain Smith is indeed currently the least paisa vasool.
| Player | Team | From | Runs | Strike Rate | W | Eco | M | MVPI | Money ($) | PVI | Age |
| Graeme Smith | RR | SA | 19 | 50.0 | 0 | -- | 3 | -6 | 475000 | -23442 | 28 |
| Ajit Agarkar | KKR | IND | 8 | 200.0 | 0 | 15.5 | 2 | -5 | 330000 | -16971 | 31 |
| Zaheer Khan | MI | IND | 6 | 66.7 | 0 | 8.3 | 2 | 6 | 450000 | 14400 | 30 |
| VVS Laxman | DC | IND | 15 | 71.4 | 0 | -- | 3 | 8 | 375000 | 10369 | 34 |
| Manoj Tiwary | DD | IND | 9 | 69.2 | 0 | 11.0 | 2 | 13 | 675000 | 10189 | 23 |
| Tyron Henderson | RR | SA | 11 | 73.3 | 1 | 7.5 | 1 | 18 | 650000 | 8650 | 34 |
| Moises Henriques | KKR | AUS | 6 | 75.0 | 1 | 9.1 | 2 | 10 | 300000 | 7526 | 22 |
| Gautam Gambhir | DD | IND | 31 | 93.9 | 0 | -- | 3 | 21 | 725000 | 7487 | 27 |
| Murali Kartik | KKR | IND | 10 | 100.0 | 0 | 6.0 | 2 | 19 | 425000 | 5752 | 32 |
| MS Dhoni | CSK | IND | 57 | 121.3 | 0 | -- | 3 | 75 | 1500000 | 5447 | 27 |
| B McCullum | KKR | NZ | 25 | 89.3 | 0 | -- | 2 | 38 | 700000 | 4737 | 27 |
| Jacques Kallis | BRC | SA | 101 | 126.3 | 1 | 12.3 | 4 | 69 | 900000 | 4505 | 33 |
| K Pietersen | BRC | ENG | 80 | 109.6 | 3 | 6.8 | 5 | 128 | 1550000 | 4316 | 28 |
| Jacob Oram | CSK | NZ | 8 | 133.3 | 1 | 7.5 | 1 | 39 | 675000 | 4258 | 30 |
| Albie Morkel | CSK | SA | 18 | 105.9 | 2 | 8.8 | 2 | 41 | 650000 | 4102 | 27 |
| A Flintoff | CSK | ENG | 62 | 117.0 | 2 | 9.5 | 3 | 81 | 1550000 | 4088 | 31 |
| Robin Uthappa | BRC | IND | 38 | 71.7 | 0 | -- | 5 | 40 | 800000 | 7098 | 23 |
It is no coincidence that most of the names come from teams that have not started well: Bangalore Royal Challengers (BRC), Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Who are the best batsmen so far in IPL 2?
Although IPL's orange cap is awarded to the batsman scoring the largest number of runs, it really makes more sense to look at a batsman who has scored the largest number of runs and at the highest strike rate.
The table below lists the top batsmen. Matthew Hayden tops the list based on this dual criterion.
| Player | Team | From | Runs | Balls | Strike Rate | Bat Pts | M | MVPI | Money ($) | PVI | Age |
| M Hayden | CSK | AUS | 166 | 97 | 171.1 | 210.8 | 3 | 223 | 375000 | 457 | 37 |
| AB de Villiers | DD | SA | 126 | 77 | 163.6 | 155.8 | 3 | 179 | 300000 | 360 | 25 |
| Rahul Dravid | BRC | IND | 144 | 106 | 135.8 | 155.5 | 4 | 175 | 1035000 | 2034 | 36 |
| Adam Gilchrist | DC | AUS | 119 | 76 | 156.6 | 143.0 | 3 | 179 | 700000 | 840 | 37 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | DD | SL | 117 | 74 | 158.1 | 141.5 | 3 | 154 | 250000 | 349 | 32 |
| Ravi Bopara | KXI | ENG | 132 | 105 | 125.7 | 132.8 | 4 | 142 | 450000 | 907 | 24 |
| K Sangakkara | KXI | SL | 120 | 104 | 115.4 | 110.0 | 4 | 122 | 700000 | 1639 | 31 |
| Jacques Kallis | BRC | SA | 101 | 80 | 126.3 | 102.0 | 4 | 69 | 900000 | 4505 | 33 |
| Chris Gayle | KKR | WI | 95 | 71 | 133.8 | 101.3 | 3 | 110 | 800000 | 1970 | 29 |
| Yuvraj Singh | KXI | IND | 86 | 59 | 145.8 | 98.3 | 4 | 103 | 1063750 | 2958 | 27 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | MI | IND | 95 | 76 | 125.0 | 95.0 | 2 | 99 | 1121250 | 2265 | 36 |
| Irfan Pathan | KXI | IND | 77 | 57 | 135.1 | 82.8 | 4 | 151 | 925000 | 1753 | 24 |
| Herschelle Gibbs | DC | SA | 71 | 51 | 139.2 | 78.3 | 3 | 90 | 575000 | 1365 | 35 |
| Virat Kohli | BRC | IND | 88 | 80 | 110.0 | 76.0 | 5 | 98 | 300000 | 1093 | 20 |
| Suresh Raina | CSK | IND | 77 | 65 | 118.5 | 72.8 | 3 | 84 | 650000 | 2094 | 22 |
| K Pietersen | BRC | ENG | 80 | 73 | 109.6 | 68.8 | 5 | 128 | 1550000 | 4316 | 28 |
| Rohit Sharma | DC | IND | 55 | 35 | 157.1 | 66.3 | 3 | 89 | 750000 | 1811 | 22 |
Who are the best bowlers so far in IPL2?
IPL's purple cap, awarded to the bowler who takes the largest number of wickets, too should really be given to the bowler with most wickets and lowest economy rate.
It turns out that Deccan Chargers pacer RP Singh still tops the list based on this dual criterion.
| Player | Team | From | Bb | Rc | W | Eco | Bowl Pts | M | MVPI | Money offered ($) | PVI | Age |
| RP Singh | DC | IND | 70 | 66 | 8 | 5.7 | 141.5 | 3 | 145 | 875000 | 1298 | 23 |
| Anil Kumble | BRC | IND | 115 | 111 | 6 | 5.8 | 122.8 | 5 | 134 | 500000 | 1338 | 38 |
| Pragyan Ojha | DC | IND | 72 | 62 | 6 | 5.2 | 118.0 | 3 | 116 | 30000 | 56 | 22 |
| Lasith Malinga | MI | SL | 48 | 34 | 6 | 4.3 | 116.0 | 2 | 116 | 350000 | 603 | 25 |
| Kamran Khan | RR | IND | 66 | 54 | 5 | 4.9 | 103.5 | 3 | 119 | 30000 | 69 | 18 |
| Yusuf Abdulla | KXI | SA | 66 | 91 | 7 | 8.3 | 96.5 | 4 | 97 | 30000 | 89 | 26 |
| Daniel Vettori | DD | NZ | 66 | 79 | 6 | 7.2 | 93.5 | 3 | 109 | 625000 | 1234 | 30 |
| L Balaji | CSK | IND | 38 | 37 | 5 | 5.8 | 85.5 | 2 | 90 | 30000 | 86 | 27 |
| D Mascarenhas | RR | ENG | 72 | 78 | 4 | 6.5 | 72.0 | 3 | 95 | 100000 | 285 | 31 |
| Scott Styris | DC | NZ | 48 | 64 | 5 | 8.0 | 71.0 | 2 | 89 | 175000 | 393 | 33 |
| Praveen Kumar | BRC | IND | 90 | 117 | 5 | 7.8 | 70.5 | 4 | 112 | 300000 | 918 | 22 |
| Shane Warne | RR | AUS | 72 | 80 | 4 | 6.7 | 70.0 | 3 | 97 | 450000 | 1259 | 39 |
| Irfan Pathan | KXI | IND | 72 | 97 | 5 | 8.1 | 68.0 | 4 | 151 | 925000 | 1753 | 24 |
| Piyush Chawla | KXI | IND | 65 | 61 | 3 | 5.6 | 65.3 | 4 | 68 | 400000 | 1675 | 20 |
| Munaf Patel | RR | IND | 60 | 85 | 5 | 8.5 | 65.0 | 3 | 71 | 275000 | 1059 | 25 |
| Fidel Edwards | DC | WI | 72 | 72 | 3 | 6.0 | 63.0 | 3 | 65 | 150000 | 496 | 27 |
| M Muralitharan | CSK | SL | 42 | 37 | 3 | 5.3 | 60.5 | 2 | 59 | 600000 | 2604 | 37 |
Finally, another curious facet of IPL second season so far has been that teams have generally chosen to play with the same playing eleven in most of the matches -- although they have shuffled the odd foreign player.
Hence, there are a large number of expensive passengers that all teams are carrying. Perhaps that is why they are choosing to offload a few excess players. But why must these always be Indian players?
Based on the detailed IPL1 analysis carried out by Purnendu Maji in 2008. The paisa vasool index uses a model developed by M J Manohar Rao and Rajeeva L Karandikar.
