Dhoni starts the new ODI season impressively

Although the Indian captain M S Dhoni [ Images ] performs well in all three forms of cricket, he seems best equipped to play ODI cricket. In ODI cricket, a strike rate just below 100 - which is the rate Dhoni is now most comfortable with - is considered excellent. Also the 50 overs allow the calm captain sufficient leverage to swing close matches his team's way.

Dhoni emerged as the most valuable player in the West Indies-India ODI series that had a wet end last night. Yuvraj Singh [ Images ] is just behind him. Table 1 ranks all the players who played in the series.

Table 1: The most valuable players in the West Indies [ Images ] - India [ Images ] ODI series (4 matches played; 3 completed)

Player	Team	Runs	Six	Four	Strike Rate	Bat Pts	W	Eco	Bowl Pts	Field Pts	M	MVPI	Age
MS Dhoni	IND	182	4	10	86.7	189.0	0	--	0.0	55	4	244	28
Yuvraj Singh	IND	168	8	15	119.1	218.5	0	8.8	-23.0	0	4	196	27
Chris Gayle [ Images ]	WI	128	3	19	134.7	176.8	0	6.5	-12.0	10	4	175	29
Dwayne Bravo [ Images ]	WI	22	0	1	55.0	10.7	6	5.2	146.0	10	4	167	25
Runako Morton	WI	161	2	11	77.0	147.8	0	--	0.0	5	4	153	31
Ramnaresh Sarwan [ Images ]	WI	134	4	7	95.7	151.3	0	--	0.0	0	4	151	29
Ashish Nehra [ Images ]	IND	0	0	0	0.0	-2.5	6	5.8	133.3	5	4	136	30
Ravi Rampaul	WI	0	0	0	--	0.0	4	4.5	107.0	25	3	132	24
Dinesh Karthik [ Images ]	IND	118	2	11	94.4	131.8	0	--	0.0	0	4	132	24
Denesh Ramdin [ Images ]	WI	43	2	2	134.4	59.3	0	--	0.0	70	4	129	24
Rohit Sharma [ Images ]	IND	15	0	0	65.2	10.8	3	3.8	86.0	22.5	4	119	22
Yusuf Pathan [ Images ]	IND	41	2	2	83.7	41.2	4	7.1	71.0	0	4	112	26
Harbhajan Singh [ Images ]	IND	28	2	0	103.7	33.5	3	5.9	54.8	10	4	98	29
Shivnarine Chanderpaul [ Images ]	WI	96	3	5	84.2	97.0	0	--	0.0	0	4	97	34
Jerome Taylor [ Images ]	WI	22	0	4	129.4	29.8	4	6.4	66.8	0	4	97	25
Gautam Gambhir [ Images ]	IND	57	1	2	105.6	69.0	0	--	0.0	17.5	4	87	27
Sulieman Benn	WI	7	0	1	116.7	9.0	2	4.7	57.0	5	3	71	28
Darren Bravo	WI	40	0	5	129.0	54.2	0	--	0.0	5	4	59	20
David Bernard	WI	19	0	1	95.0	21.3	2	6.0	32.0	5	4	58	28
Ishant Sharma [ Images ]	IND	0	0	0	--	0.0	2	6.4	30.0	5	3	35	20
Ravindra Jadeja [ Images ]	IND	7	0	1	53.8	3.2	0	5.1	-1.0	5	2	7	20
Lionel Baker	WI	0	0	0	0.0	-1.7	1	6.9	8.0	0	1	6	24
S Badrinath	IND	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	28
Abhishek Nayar [ Images ]	IND	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	2	0	25
Pragyan Ojha [ Images ]	IND	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	22
Murali Vijay	IND	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	25
Narsingh Deonarine	WI	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	25
Praveen Kumar [ Images ]	IND	1	0	0	20.0	-2.2	0	5.3	-2.0	0	1	-4	22
RP Singh [ Images ]	IND	23	1	1	30.7	-16.5	1	6.2	7.0	5	4	-5	23

Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points | Age | *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.

We will also list India's most valuable players right through the new (2009-10) ODI season. Currently, Dhoni is India's most valuable player (see Table 2), but, as the season advances, he should face greater competition from Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag [ Images ] (the MVP of the 2008-09 season), Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ] (MVP of the 2007-08 season) and perhaps even Rahul Dravid [ Images ]!

Table 2: India's most valuable players in the 2009-10 ODI season (4 matches so far)

Player	Runs	Six	Four	Strike Rate	Bat Pts	W	Eco	Bowl Pts	Field Pts	M	MVPI	Age
MS Dhoni	182	4	10	86.7	189.0	0	--	0.0	55	4	244	28
Yuvraj Singh	168	8	15	119.1	218.5	0	8.8	-23.0	0	4	196	27
Ashish Nehra	0	0	0	0.0	-2.5	6	5.8	133.3	5	4	136	30
Dinesh Karthik	118	2	11	94.4	131.8	0	--	0.0	0	4	132	24
Rohit Sharma	15	0	0	65.2	10.8	3	3.8	86.0	22.5	4	119	22
Yusuf Pathan	41	2	2	83.7	41.2	4	7.1	71.0	0	4	112	26
Harbhajan Singh	28	2	0	103.7	33.5	3	5.9	54.8	10	4	98	29
Gautam Gambhir	57	1	2	105.6	69.0	0	--	0.0	17.5	4	87	27
Ishant Sharma	0	0	0	--	0.0	2	6.4	30.0	5	3	35	20
Ravindra Jadeja	7	0	1	53.8	3.2	0	5.1	-1.0	5	2	7	20
S Badrinath	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	28
Abhishek Nayar	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	2	0	25
Pragyan Ojha	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	22
Murali Vijay	0	0	0	--	0.0	0	--	0.0	0	0	0	25
Praveen Kumar	1	0	0	20.0	-2.2	0	5.3	-2.0	0	1	-4	22
RP Singh	23	1	1	30.7	-16.5	1	6.2	7.0	5	4	-5	23

Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points | Age | *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.