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Watson set to take MVP crown

Last updated on: November 09, 2009 16:35 IST

Shane WatsonThere is still one match to go in the India-Australia One-Day International series, but Shane Watson is almost certain to be chosen the player of the series.

Watson has already done enough, having scored 256 runs so far, at a strike rate of over 90, and taken 10 wickets with a reasonable economy rate of 5.60.

The table below shows the 20 most valuable players so far in the seven-match series. The most valuable player index (MVPI) is obtained by totaling every player's batting, bowling and fielding points.

The MVPI formula collapses a player's all-round on-field performance into a single 'run' equivalent. The Batting points increase with high scores at high strike rates, bowling points increase with more wickets at low economy rates. The fielding points are awarded for catches and run out dismissals.

Table: The most valuable players so far in the India-Australia ODI series (6 matches so far)

Player

Team

Runs

Six

Four

S/R

Bat Pts

W

Eco

Bowl Pts

Field Pts

M

MVPI

Shane Watson

AUS

256

3

34

91.1

277.8

10

5.6

226.7

16

6

521

Michael Hussey

AUS

313

5

22

97.5

358.5

0

8.7

-11.0

4

6

352

Harbhajan Singh

IND

81

4

9

132.8

111.2

8

4.5

229.0

0

6

340

Sachin Tendulkar

IND

275

4

32

88.7

291.7

0

13.2

-6.8

4

6

289

MS Dhoni

IND

284

3

22

73.6

246.3

0

--

0.0

40.5

6

287

Ricky Ponting

AUS

267

4

25

75.4

239.0

0

--

0.0

41.5

6

281

Mitchell Johnson

AUS

52

2

4

96.3

59.0

9

6.1

171.7

29

5

260

Praveen Kumar

IND

120

3

15

107.1

146.7

4

5.7

67.7

41.5

6

256

Doug Bollinger

AUS

0

0

0

0.0

-0.8

9

4.4

247.0

8

4

254

Ravindra Jadeja

IND

92

0

10

59.7

55.7

6

4.8

160.5

33

6

249

Cameron White

AUS

218

7

11

81.0

211.8

0

--

0.0

20.5

6

232

Suresh Raina

IND

156

5

10

93.4

172.8

2

5.3

47.0

12

6

232

Nathan Hauritz

AUS

39

0

3

90.7

42.2

4

4.4

131.0

49.5

6

223

Yuvraj Singh

IND

128

3

12

76.6

116.8

2

4.7

62.0

25

5

204

Virender Sehwag

IND

138

3

22

115.0

176.0

0

4.0

2.0

16.5

6

195

Ashish Nehra

IND

14

0

1

58.3

8.0

7

6.1

124.0

37.5

6

170

Gautam Gambhir

IND

158

1

13

81.0

153.5

0

--

0.0

8

5

162

Shaun Marsh

AUS

144

3

10

84.7

146.3

0

--

0.0

0

4

146

Ishant Sharma

IND

3

0

0

37.5

-0.7

5

5.4

115.0

4

4

118

Adam Voges

AUS

79

0

6

76.7

72.2

1

3.9

42.0

4

5

118

Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | S/R: 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 | *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.

Sachin Tendulkar has jumped to the fourth place after his knock of 175 runs at a strike rate of 124 in Hyderabad. Harbhajan Singh has eight wickets with a good economy rate of 4.50 but sadly these good performances have not contributed to Indian wins.

It is also a surprise to see both Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag in the bottom half of the table. They usually figure in the top three or top five of every MVP list. Perhaps the reason for India's disappointing series loss lies there.