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What a remarkable comeback from Ashish Nehra! After being almost forgotten, the left-arm pacer now leads India's Most Valuable Player (MVP) rankings in One-Day Internationals this season.
Following a fine bowling performance in the ICC Champions Trophy, he has overtaken both Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the MVP rankings.
Nehra announced himself in 2008 when he dished out some impressive performances for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He got 12 wickets, although he wasn't particularly economical. But, more importantly, he played 14 matches without getting injured!
Playing for Delhi Daredevils in the IPL second season, Nehra did even better as he claimed 18 wickets at an economy rate of 6.6 to confirm his astonishing return to form and fitness.
Table 1: India's most valuable players in the 2009-10 ODI season (10 matches so far)
| Player | Runs | 6s | 4s | S/R | Bat Pts | W | Eco | Bowl Pts | Field Pts | M | MVPI |
| Ashish Nehra | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14.3 | -3.8 | 18 | 5.2 | 432.8 | 8 | 10 | 437 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 264 | 9 | 26 | 109.5 | 327.2 | 4 | 5.3 | 91.0 | 4 | 9 | 422 |
| MS Dhoni | 284 | 4 | 17 | 78.0 | 264.7 | 1 | 7.0 | 21.0 | 97 | 10 | 383 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 45 | 2 | 1 | 76.3 | 40.8 | 12 | 5.2 | 282.2 | 32 | 10 | 355 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 219 | 1 | 22 | 93.2 | 242.2 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 5 | 246 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 120 | 3 | 10 | 114.3 | 152.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 45.5 | 7 | 198 |
| Ishant Sharma | 13 | 0 | 2 | 46.4 | 2.7 | 9 | 5.8 | 181.5 | 8 | 8 | 192 |
| Suresh Raina | 99 | 4 | 9 | 97.1 | 113.0 | 2 | 4.0 | 63.0 | 12 | 6 | 188 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 47 | 2 | 2 | 72.3 | 39.8 | 7 | 6.7 | 114.0 | 4 | 8 | 158 |
| Rahul Dravid | 180 | 2 | 11 | 68.7 | 141.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 12 | 6 | 154 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 172 | 2 | 17 | 72.3 | 145.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 4 | 7 | 150 |
| Rohit Sharma | 15 | 0 | 0 | 65.2 | 10.8 | 3 | 3.8 | 86.0 | 20.5 | 4 | 117 |
| RP Singh | 44 | 1 | 3 | 41.5 | -0.3 | 5 | 5.9 | 84.0 | 29 | 8 | 113 |
| Virat Kohli | 81 | 0 | 0 | 76.4 | 73.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 2 | 74 |
| Amit Mishra | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 1 | 4.5 | 28.0 | 4 | 1 | 32 |
| Praveen Kumar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20.0 | -2.2 | 0 | 3.9 | 27.0 | 4 | 3 | 29 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 7 | 0 | 1 | 53.8 | 3.2 | 0 | 5.1 | -1.0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| S Badrinath | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pragyan Ojha | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Murali Vijay | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Abhishek Nayar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | -5.8 | 0 | 5.7 | -2.0 | 0 | 3 | -8 |
Runs (scored) | 6s: Sixes | 4s: Boundaries | 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.
If we look at the list of the 50 most valuable players in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, it is hard a find an Indian name. Nehra appears at the 15th place, Gautam Gambhir is 44th, Praveen Kumar is 45th and Harbhajan Singh is 50th.
Shane Watson, who hit back-to-back centuries in the semi-final and final and also took 6 wickets, heads the MVP list followed by the two opposing captains in the final -- Daniel Vettori and Ricky Ponting.
Table 2: The most valuable players in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy
| Player | Team | Runs | 6s | 4s | S/R | Bat Pts | W | Eco | Bowl Pts | Field Pts | M | MVPI |
| Shane Watson | AUS | 265 | 11 | 25 | 91.07 | 287.5 | 6 | 4.5 | 167.33 | 12.5 | 5 | 467 |
| Daniel Vettori | NZ | 100 | 1 | 9 | 104.17 | 120.0 | 7 | 4.0 | 206.83 | 20.5 | 4 | 347 |
| Ricky Ponting | AUS | 288 | 3 | 26 | 78.69 | 271.0 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 33 | 5 | 304 |
| Kyle Mills | NZ | 30 | 1 | 3 | 125.00 | 40.0 | 9 | 4.3 | 259.83 | 4 | 5 | 304 |
| Mitchell Johnson | AUS | 82 | 3 | 9 | 126.15 | 109.8 | 4 | 4.6 | 115.00 | 33 | 5 | 258 |
| Graeme Smith | SA | 206 | 1 | 26 | 107.29 | 252.0 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 4 | 3 | 256 |
| Wayne Parnell | SA | 10 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 | 11.7 | 11 | 7.0 | 219.00 | 25 | 3 | 256 |
| Saeed Ajmal | PAK | 14 | 0 | 2 | 82.35 | 13.8 | 8 | 3.8 | 237.17 | 4 | 4 | 255 |
| Paul Collingwood | ENG | 202 | 8 | 18 | 86.70 | 209.8 | 1 | 5.1 | 22.00 | 4 | 4 | 236 |
| Grant Elliott | NZ | 126 | 1 | 9 | 72.41 | 107.0 | 4 | 4.1 | 111.00 | 16.5 | 5 | 235 |
| Stuart Broad | ENG | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20.00 | -2.2 | 10 | 5.5 | 235.83 | 0 | 3 | 234 |
| Brett Lee | AUS | 37 | 0 | 3 | 86.05 | 38.2 | 6 | 4.4 | 173.00 | 0 | 5 | 211 |
| Shoaib Malik | PAK | 180 | 2 | 19 | 86.12 | 185.8 | 1 | 5.9 | 19.00 | 4 | 3 | 209 |
| M Jayawardene | SL | 163 | 3 | 15 | 103.16 | 194.3 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 12 | 3 | 206 |
| Ashish Nehra | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 8 | 4.8 | 206.00 | 0 | 3 | 206 |
| Shane Bond | NZ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23.08 | -4.8 | 8 | 4.8 | 210.00 | 0 | 5 | 205 |
| James Anderson | ENG | 11 | 0 | 0 | 37.93 | -2.2 | 7 | 4.3 | 203.67 | 0 | 4 | 202 |
| Nathan Hauritz | AUS | 16 | 0 | 2 | 76.19 | 14.5 | 5 | 3.8 | 163.17 | 20.5 | 5 | 198 |
| Mohammad Aamer | PAK | 19 | 0 | 4 | 90.48 | 20.5 | 6 | 4.1 | 173.00 | 4 | 3 | 198 |
| Shahid Afridi | PAK | 40 | 0 | 5 | 81.63 | 39.2 | 5 | 4.3 | 151.50 | 4 | 4 | 195 |
| Martin Guptill | NZ | 191 | 3 | 18 | 82.68 | 189.5 | 0 | 13.0 | -8.00 | 12 | 5 | 194 |
| Dale Steyn | SA | 17 | 0 | 2 | 130.77 | 23.2 | 6 | 4.8 | 156.17 | 12.5 | 3 | 192 |
| T Dilshan | SL | 149 | 2 | 23 | 110.37 | 185.5 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 4 | 3 | 190 |
| M Yousuf | PAK | 200 | 0 | 17 | 75.19 | 178.3 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 4 | 3 | 182 |
| Eoin Morgan | ENG | 147 | 5 | 12 | 79.89 | 140.7 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 41 | 4 | 182 |
| Angelo Mathews | SL | 69 | 0 | 6 | 70.41 | 56.3 | 4 | 4.6 | 108.00 | 8 | 3 | 172 |
| Michael Hussey | AUS | 148 | 1 | 12 | 84.57 | 150.2 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 20.5 | 5 | 171 |
| Peter Siddle | AUS | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 6 | 4.4 | 169.00 | 0 | 5 | 169 |
| Tim Paine | AUS | 123 | 2 | 14 | 73.65 | 106.8 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 61 | 5 | 168 |
| Brendon McCullum | NZ | 155 | 6 | 13 | 74.16 | 135.8 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 32 | 5 | 168 |
| Gavin Tonge | WI | 9 | 0 | 1 | 60.00 | 5.5 | 5 | 3.9 | 159.00 | 0 | 3 | 165 |
| Nikita Miller | WI | 72 | 2 | 7 | 82.76 | 71.5 | 2 | 3.3 | 71.83 | 0 | 3 | 143 |
| Owais Shah | ENG | 145 | 7 | 8 | 82.86 | 144.2 | 0 | 11.0 | -6.00 | 4 | 4 | 142 |
| Umar Gul | PAK | 6 | 0 | 1 | 60.00 | 3.7 | 5 | 5.3 | 115.17 | 20.5 | 4 | 139 |
| AB de Villiers | SA | 130 | 0 | 13 | 83.87 | 130.8 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 8 | 3 | 139 |
| Ian Butler | NZ | 6 | 0 | 1 | 85.71 | 6.2 | 5 | 4.7 | 132.00 | 0 | 3 | 138 |
| Naved-ul-Hasan | PAK | 26 | 1 | 2 | 136.84 | 36.2 | 4 | 5.2 | 95.00 | 4 | 4 | 135 |
| Nuwan Kulasekara | SL | 75 | 5 | 3 | 92.59 | 82.5 | 3 | 6.0 | 52.00 | 0 | 3 | 135 |
| J Franklin | NZ | 63 | 0 | 7 | 91.30 | 68.5 | 2 | 4.6 | 64.00 | 0 | 4 | 133 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | SL | 34 | 0 | 6 | 117.24 | 43.8 | 3 | 3.9 | 86.00 | 0 | 3 | 130 |
| Jacques Kallis | SA | 89 | 0 | 11 | 86.41 | 92.2 | 1 | 4.5 | 34.00 | 0 | 3 | 126 |
| Ross Taylor | NZ | 121 | 4 | 8 | 65.41 | 87.8 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 36 | 5 | 124 |
| Darren Sammy | WI | 68 | 2 | 6 | 69.39 | 54.3 | 1 | 4.0 | 53.00 | 12.5 | 3 | 120 |
| Gautam Gambhir | IND | 63 | 2 | 8 | 123.53 | 83.5 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 29 | 3 | 113 |
| Praveen Kumar | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 3 | 3.3 | 104.00 | 4 | 2 | 108 |
| Kamran Akmal | PAK | 92 | 0 | 12 | 69.70 | 74.0 | 0 | -- | 0.00 | 32.5 | 4 | 107 |
| Daryl Tuffey | NZ | 4 | 0 | 1 | 200.00 | 6.3 | 4 | 5.2 | 97.33 | 0 | 2 | 104 |
| Jesse Ryder | NZ | 82 | 1 | 11 | 117.14 | 105.7 | 0 | 7.5 | -5.00 | 0 | 2 | 101 |
| Umar Akmal | PAK | 98 | 0 | 13 | 80.33 | 94.3 | 0 | 4.2 | 1.83 | 4 | 4 | 100 |
| Harbhajan Singh | IND | 13 | 0 | 1 | 59.09 | 7.7 | 3 | 5.1 | 71.00 | 12 | 3 | 91 |
Runs (scored) | 6s: Sixes | 4s: Boundaries | 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.