IPL: Who's paisa vasool and who's not?

As the IPL second season reaches its half-way mark, it's time to take our own strategic break and identify every team's best and worst performers so far.

Bangalore Royal Challengers

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Anil Kumble	8	66.7	10	5.6	7	211	500000	1186	>5000	38
Rahul Dravid	144	135.8	0	--	4	175	1035000	2711	2870	36
Praveen Kumar	44	133.3	8	7.3	6	174	300000	836	1084	22
K Pietersen	93	109.4	4	6.5	6	160	1550000	4145	DNP	28

We have picked the four players with the highest 'most valuable player index' (MVPI). Kevin Pietersen did sufficiently well by making a contribution equivalent to scoring 160 runs, but his high price tag meant that each Pietersen 'run' cost $4145.

Anil Kumble looks a more determined captain than Kevin Pietersen and has returned strongly after his IPL 2008 disappointment. Kumble has taken 10 wickets with an excellent economy rate of 5.6 (in this IPL, bowlers are on the average conceding 7.5 runs per over). Dravid has scored a lot of runs at a healthy strike rate and Praveen Kumar has so far provided good all-round value (his IPL 2009 PVI of 836, his better than his PVI last year of 1084).

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Jesse Ryder	34	117.2	3	6.9	4	92	160000	793	DNP	24
Robin Uthappa	57	81.4	0	--	6	57	800000	6817	2564	23
Ross Taylor	67	109.8	0	13.0	4	52	100000	875	188	25
Dale Steyn	0	0.0	2	6.9	3	36	325000	4026	1194	25

Jesse Ryder seems unable to survive even the first over, although he's still a handy player to have because he bowls a bit and fields well too. Ross Taylor is coming in to bat at a wrong time, and getting out when things get even worse. Dale Steyn isn't valuable enough on slow pitches. In fact, single skill foreign players will always find it hard to make it to the final eleven. Robin Uthappa has so far been a complete disaster with an unacceptably poor strike rate. He played much better for Mumbai Indians last year (his PVI this year is 6817; last year it was 2564).

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Suresh Raina	232	145.0	3	5.1	6	349	650000	905	1237	22
M Hayden	246	160.8	0	--	6	317	375000	575	527	37
L Balaji	2	66.7	10	7.6	5	157	30000	90	197	27
M Muralitharan	3	60.0	5	5.7	5	120	600000	2352	2419	37

Chennai Super Kings are currently heavily dependent on a handful of players for their success. Suresh Raina has been outstanding; it isn't easy to have a PVI below 1000 after being so expensive. Matthew Hayden is an incredibly good buy; any fair assessment would double his price of $375000. Balaji's wicket-taking ability, and Muralitharan's guile and good economy rate have offered good value. M S Dhoni (MVPI = 123; PVI = 5935), Albie Morkel (MVPI = 117; PVI = 2613) and Jacob Oram (MVPI = 99; PVI = 3117) haven't failed, but they haven't done enough. Dhoni, in particular, seems more valuable off the field at the moment; on the field he costs $5935 for every run scored.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
A Flintoff	62	117.0	2	9.5	3	81	1550000	4088	DNP	31
J Sharma	20	111.1	2	8.1	4	43	225000	2392	1762	25
M Gony	6	300.0	4	10.1	4	43	30000	323	79	25
Parthiv Patel	49	87.5	0	--	5	32	325000	4788	1332	24

Poor Andrew Flintoff could get nothing right! He batted at No. 4, but he's really not a good enough batsman to be up there. His bowling should have delivered more value, but Abhishek Nayar ruined his figures and his spirit. Joginder Sharma and Manpreet Gony haven't found pitches to be helpful and Parthiv Patel simply can't get going - every Patel run has cost $4788 this year; it was just $1332 last year.

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Adam Gilchrist	210	155.6	0	--	6	295	700000	1018	1423	37
RP Singh	6	75.0	12	6.3	6	224	875000	1674	3383	23
Pragyan Ojha	1	33.3	10	5.6	6	193	30000	67	151	22
H Gibbs	148	122.3	0	--	6	176	575000	1398	3464	35

Deccan Chargers have worked out their plans rather well so far: they have batsmen like Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma (MVPI = 172; PVI = 1869) scoring a lot of runs, and bowlers like R P Singh and Pragyan Ojha taking a lot of wickets, with some help from Fidel Edwards and Scott Styris. It's working nicely at the moment but one fears that the Chargers will be in trouble the day Gilchrist can't fire. Gibbs has made a remarkable comeback, with every Gibbs 'run' coming cheaper this year at $1398, instead of $3464 last year. R P Singh seems well-rested, and that's showing in his performances.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
VVS Laxman	19	73.1	0	--	4	10	375000	15789	2568	34
Venugopal Rao	34	89.5	3	9.3	6	49	30000	265	99	27
Harmeet Singh	0	--	1	9.6	3	8	30000	1446	DNP	21
Shoaib Ahmed	0	0.0	2	7.8	3	32	30000	364	DNP	21

It's disappointing to see V V S Laxman getting nowhere; he should try to fit into the 'can-reliably-hold-one-end' slot that Tendulkar and Dravid are excelling in. Venugopal Rao must somehow find the aggressive streak in his batting - but perhaps the pitch movement is defeating him. One hasn't heard enough about Harmeet Singh and Shoaib Ahmed - and clearly they don't belong to this league. The Chargers have too many good foreign players and too few good Indian players. That's really their big problem.

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
AB de Villiers	228	139.0	0	--	6	302	300000	426	2903	25
Dinesh Karthik	127	139.6	0	--	6	190	525000	1186	2309	23
T Dilshan	142	134.0	0	8.4	6	163	250000	657	1566	32
Daniel Vettori	29	103.6	7	8.4	5	145	625000	1792	4252	30

It must seem a surprise that both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir don't figure in Delhi Daredevils' Top four. But this is really an indicator of the team's tremendous potential. A B de Villiers is scoring a lot of runs, and taking great catches on the boundary line. Every de Villiers 'run' costs a mere $426 this time - it was $2903 last time. The chief reason is that de Villiers is not 'on the bench' this year. This also explains Daniel Vettori's greater value this year - apart from the fact that left-arm spinners are extremely precious in this IPL. Ashish Nehra (MVPI = 142; PVI = 1167), Dirk Nannes (MVPI = 128; PVI = 234), Amit Mishra (MVPI = 105; PVI = 115)and Pradeep Sangwan (MVPI = 88; PVI = 146) are providing sufficiently good support without being match-winners themselves.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
G Gambhir	69	101.5	0	--	6	61	725000	5094	1275	27
M Manhas	49	140.0	0	--	4	58	30000	206	2500	29
V Sehwag	87	167.3	0	--	5	117	833750	2965	1462	30
Manoj Tiwary	9	69.2	0	11.0	2	13	675000	18922	5887	23

Sehwag and Gambhir appear in this list simply because they have indeed been disappointing so far - compare their PVI this year with their PVI last year - besides being two of the team's most expensive players. Mithun Manhas seems capable of more, but is not quite able to deliver; one would have expected him to play the role of Shikhar Dhawan this year. Manoj Tiwary sadly continues to be the team's biggest white elephant.

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Brad Hodge	160	105.3	5	7.9	6	202	100000	241	1406	34
Chris Gayle	154	122.2	1	7.8	6	180	800000	2156	>5000	29
Ishant Sharma	16	123.1	7	6.1	6	156	950000	2953	7002	20
MN van Wyk	75	107.1	0	--	2	79	50000	273	DNP	30

So abject has the failure of Kolkata Knight Riders been so far that it is hard to pick out even four players who have been sufficiently successful; only Brad Hodge probably makes the list easily. Chris Gayle might well have been listed among the failures in some other team's list! Ishant Sharma is bowling with some spirit, but his partner Ashok Dinda seems to have lost it this year.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Sourav Ganguly	82	101.2	2	8.0	6	87	1092500	6082	2502	36
B McCullum	31	73.8	0	--	5	52	700000	6346	777	27
Murali Kartik	10	100.0	1	6.3	4	41	425000	4797	4505	32
Ajit Agarkar	14	127.3	1	13.2	4	1	330000	201143	1758	31

These numbers are real shockers! In particular, Ajit Agarkar is in the most terrible possible form with an economy rate of 13.2 spread over 4 matches. Ganguly is faring poorly too, although one does expect Dada to return strongly sooner rather than later. Brendon McCullum is a shadow of the person who plundered runs at Chinnaswamy Stadium last year and it's a real surprise why Murali Kartik can't get wickets when an unknown left-arm spinner called Shadab Jakati is capable of taking wickets.

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Irfan Pathan	96	126.3	9	6.8	6	250	925000	1586	1975	24
Yuvraj Singh	146	137.7	3	6.6	6	221	1063750	2063	2371	27
Yusuf Abdulla	0	--	13	7.7	6	192	50000	112	DNP	26
K Sangakkara	182	106.4	0	--	6	162	700000	1849	1716	31

Irfan Pathan has rediscovered his confidence and form, and is playing well; every 'run' by Irfan Pathan costs just under $1600 - which is good value, given the player's high price. Yuvraj Singh has managed to stay in the Top four without really exploding with his bat - although that hat-trick featuring three top-notch batsmen was a significant achievement. Sangakkara has been remarkably consistent, even though his strike rate has been below par. Yusuf Abdulla has been a surprise, and reminds you of Sohail Tanvir's success - although the Pakistani bowler is more accomplished.

Ravi Bopara (MVPI = 136; PVI = 1368) and Piyush Chawla (MVPI = 91; PVI = 1879) occasionally dazzled - but not often enough to make it to the Top four.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
M Jayawardene	71	118.3	0	--	6	83	475000	2453	2248	31
Vikram Singh	0	--	1	6.6	4	26	30000	471	203	24
V S Malik	0	0.0	2	9.4	4	15	30000	800
Wilkin Mota	6	75.0	0	3.0	3	11	30000	1102	1071	27

Mahela Jayawardene has not been an outright failure, but must still be counted as a disappointment. One gets the impression that the former Sri Lanka captain is utterly incapable of a crude slog - and that might be his real problem. V S Malik and Vikram Singh were never expected to give earth-shaking performances; they are filling in for S Sreesanth, whose likely reappearance will surely feature song, dance and tears.

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Lasith Malinga	0	--	11	4.4	5	227	350000	640	DNP	25
S Tendulkar	198	126.1	0	6.0	5	220	1121250	2109	6782	36
J-P Duminy	185	114.9	1	7.7	5	199	950000	1980	DNP	25
Abhishek Nayar	73	143.1	4	5.5	5	158	100000	262	121	25

Lasith Malinga has been the most lethal bowler in IPL's second season, and looks like getting a wicket from every ball. Add to that his incredibly low economy rate of 4.4, and one realizes his tremendous value. A PVI of just 640 on a moderately high price makes him a truly outstanding buy. Just the name Sachin Tendulkar sells; and if you combine it with consistent and attractive batting, you have an outright winner. Jean-Paul Duminy is settling down nicely with a PVI below 2000; if he continues in this vein, he would be worth his unexpectedly high price. Abhishek Nayar keeps doing something useful every time for his team, but he's not yet looking like a match-winner.

Mumbai's potential match-winner, Sanath Jayasuriya (MVPI = 138; PVI = 2922) has still not truly fired. Harbhajan Singh (MVPI = 143; PVI = 1236; wickets = 4) needs to take a few more wickets and Dwayne Bravo (MVPI = 143; PVI = 420; runs = 44) must score a few more runs if both are to break into the Top four. They are of course eminently capable of getting there.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Zaheer Khan	8	72.7	5	6.8	5	105	450000	1771	2174	30
Pinal Shah	1	100.0	0	--	5	39	40000	422	804	21
S Dhawan	40	88.9	0	--	4	32	40000	504	91	23
Saurabh Tiwary	10	142.9	0	--	3	11	40000	1371	1023	19

Zaheer Khan, as he admitted himself on TV, is still not there although his three-wicket haul against Kolkata Knight Riders is a good portent. Pinal Shah has been an adequate wicket-keeper, but Shikhar Dhawan is still searching for the form that helped make Delhi Daredevils such a formidable batting machine last year. Saurabh Tiwary is supposed to be a 'floater'; and the best that we can say about him is that he has still not sunk.

Top four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
Yusuf Pathan	169	161.0	3	6.5	6	274	475000	841	681	26
Shane Warne	63	87.5	7	7.2	6	169	450000	1297	1211	39
Munaf Patel	0	0.0	9	7.4	6	142	275000	939	1031	25
D Mascarenhas	39	100.0	6	6.8	5	136	100000	346	2362	31

For sheer matching-winning ability, Yusuf Pathan currently has no rivals. He's scoring runs rapidly in the most difficult phase of the innings, bowling tight during the first six overs, and cheerfully hitting his way out of perilous adversity. Shane Warne is being incredibly clever, Munaf Patel has been steady and reliable and the glint on Dmitri Mascarenhas's face suggests exceptional motivation and resolve. No wonder, Rajasthan Royals still manage to win against superior opposition.

Ravindra Jadeja (MVPI = 124; PVI = 117) and Kamran Khan (MVPI = 122; PVI = 116) have done their bit, but Jadeja has often failed to turn things around.

Disappointing four

Player	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	LYPVI	Age
S Asnodkar	24	104.3	0	--	5	31	30000	460	91	25
Rob Quiney	45	90.0	0	--	4	28	50000	831	DNP	26
Graeme Smith	65	71.4	0	--	6	24	475000	9514	1057	28
Mahesh Rawat	16	84.2	0	--	5	59	30000	241	308	24

The real problem Rajasthan Royals face is that they lose their openers before you can say 'Swapnil Asnodkar' or 'Graeme Smith'. Smith, in particular, has been a tremendous disappointment and often reminds you of Ricky Ponting during the 2008 IPL. It's not clear what Rob Quiney can do, while Mahesh Rawat is just about holding on to his place behind the stumps.