Raina was IPL3's most valuable player

After an indifferent start, Chennai Super Kings exceeded all expectations to win the Indian Premier League. They beat favourites Mumbai Indians in the final.

Let us have a look at each of the eight teams and find out the best players and biggest disappointments in this year's tournament.

Also remember to check out the analysis of the inaugural IPL in 2008 and IPL 2009, at the half-way mark.

Kings XI Punjab (won 4, lost 10)

Top five

Irfan Pathan comfortably tops the list. He scored enough runs, and at a good strike rate, and took wickets too. However, Irfan's big problem was his high economy rate. Mahela Jayawardene became immensely valuable once he started opening the innings. He is a great player to have for Punjab, and would also prove to be an outstanding captain. Kumar Sangakkara looked lost and forlorn, but he still performed reasonably. Yuvraj Singh makes the list only because he took some wickets at a decent economy rate. But his low strike rate suggests that something is indeed amiss.

Disappointing four

S Sreesanth had a terrible tournament, bowling without control, and certainly no guile. But Brett Lee was even worse: he didn't get a single wicket in his four matches! Mohammad Kaif took a $400,000 pay cut to find refuge in Kings XI Punjab after Rajasthan Royals said they didn't want him (he was RR's most expensive Indian player), but sadly his cricket form is falling apart. Karan Goel contributed value worth 5 runs per match in the 6 matches he played. He used to be quite a dasher, but something's now going wrong.

Rajasthan Royals (won 6, lost 8)

Top five

Yusuf Pathan did all he could, but that wasn't enough. Naman Ojha blossomed, especially when RR entered their middle winning streak. Shane Watson, who was the outstanding player of IPL1, contributed his bit -- but he came in too late. Michael Lumb made up for Graeme Smith's absence, and announced himself as a good T20 player. Siddharth Trivedi too recovered his IPL1 form after his IPL2 disappointments. But Gautam Gambhir was right; RR didn't have a second Yusuf Pathan.

Disappointing four

It must seem strange to see Shane Warne's name in this list, but he was a disappointment if one looks at his awesome cricketing achievements. Warne still offers great value as captain, but he's finding it harder to rediscover his bowling magic and his batting is completely gone (recall how RR defeated RCB in IPL1 because of Warne's batting at the end?). Munaf Patel seemed as lost in RR colours as he is in Indian colours and more was expected of Shaun Tait given his high price (by RR standards). Abhishek Raut is in this list because he failed again to live up to his IPL1 promise.

Kolkata Knight Riders (won 7, lost 7)

Top five

After the horrors of IPL2, Sourav Ganguly made a smart comeback, scoring a lot of runs – although his below par strike rate suggests that Dada was still holding something back. Chris Gayle played his part, but never seemed completely engaged in the team's mission – although that's how he is even when he captains the West Indies. Angelo Mathews provided all-round value and Murali Kartik bowled economically, and with guile. Ashok Dinda bowled with fire and determination and reminded us that he is still the wonderful talent who announced himself in IPL1. We have included Dinda ahead of Manoj Tiwary because Tiwary is much more expensive ($675,000) and was therefore expected to go even better.

Disappointing four

Ishant Sharma provided no value, let alone breakthroughs. His economy rate was unacceptably high for a front-ranking bowler. Since Ishant only brings in bowlings skills it is likely that his price will fall drastically in IPL4. David Hussey, rather like Brad Hodge, was an also-ran. His strike rate was unacceptably low, and we'll probably remember him best in IPL3 for that catch across the boundary line. Brendon McCullum too did not justify his high price tag, especially because he wasn't even burdened with wicket-keeping duty. His strike rate too is a shocker. Ajit Agarkar -- remember he has a Test century? -- scored too little and conceded too many runs. Sadly his wicket tally too is drying up. We expect he'll get one more chance in the IPL -- very probably as a Sahara Pune Warrior -- but time is clearly running out.

Delhi Daredevils (won 7, lost 7)

Top five

Even when you think that Virender Sehwag hasn't done well, you look at the numbers and find that he is right up there. Sehwag started IPL3 threatening to run amuck but failed to deliver in the second half (perhaps his shoulder was troubling him?). Amit Mishra bowled exceptionally and looks set to command a price of at least $400,000 in the next IPL. Dinesh Karthik batted and kept well, although the DD slide began when he was captain. Paul Collingwood with his cool proved to be just the stabilizing presence DD needed and David Warner threatened to explode every time without quite fulfilling the promise.

Disappointing four

AB de Villiers didn't get too many chances in IPL3, but he did nothing exceptional in the 7 matches that he played. He scored only 111 runs at a strike rate below 100! After his heroics at home in IPL2 this was a big fall. Tillakaratne Dilshan just didn't get the runs, and his strike rate was abysmal. Ashish Nehra was India's best bowler in 2009 and expected to bowl match-winning spells. Like Nehra, Farveez Maharoof too was not a failure; but he is clearly capable of better things, especially with the bat.

Deccan Chargers (league: won 8, lost 6, placed fourth)

Top five

Andrew Symonds had his best IPL season consistently making useful all-round combinations.  His strike rate was a trifle low suggesting that he took his time to build his innings. Rohit Sharma produced magical batting spells and confirmed that he can finish well; sadly his bowling faltered and there were no great bowling spells this year (and certainly no hat-tricks). Pragyan Ojha made the selectors look stupid for choosing Piyush Chawla ahead of him. Ryan Harris averaged almost two wickets per game and, without being spectacular, certainly made DC look a better team. Tirumalsetti Suman was the star of DC's mid-IPL3 revival.

Disappointing four

To understand why Adam Gilchrist is in this list, take a look at how much better he played last year (MVP of 753 last year; 446 this year). Gilchrist failed to convert aggressive starts into match-winning totals. His captaincy is still excellent, but he no longer looks the explosive batsman we've known him to be. R P Singh didn't do too badly, but he certainly didn't provide the sort of performance expected from someone with a $875,000 price tag. Like Ishant Sharma, R P Singh's price will crash in IPL4 to half its current price. Herschelle Gibbs showed up, played a few breezy knocks but never conveyed that intense desire to win. V V S Laxman is a puzzle: when batsmen like Dravid and, especially, Jayawardene could unravel the T20 batting puzzle, why not Laxman? He's just as talented as those two.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (league: won 7, lost 7, placed third)

Top five

For most of IPL3, Jacques Kallis looked to be the most valuable player. But he faltered just a bit at the end, his scoring rate dropped, his economy rate rose … and that was enough to upset the RCB applecart. But to have a PVI of 1153 on a $900,000 price tag is remarkable. To put things in perspective, Kallis had a PVI of 4647 in IPL1. Robin Uthappa finally played the way he used to in his halcyon 2007 days; his strike rate of 172.5 surpassed even Virender Sehwag's! Anil Kumble equaled his stupendous 2009 performance and proved to be an outstanding captain. He did nothing wrong … till that ill-fated last over versus MI. Dale Steyn took wickets with speed and accuracy and Virat Kohli showed amazing maturity … although if he had sacrificed his wicket to Kevin Pietersen, RCB could've ended third in the league table because of a higher NRR and avoided playing MI.

Disappointing four

T20 is cruel to wicket-keepers: a bad keeper who can bat explosively is more valued than a keeper with pedigree. That's why Mark Boucher lost out, although he too can be a fine finisher. Cameron White was coming in to bat at funny times and just couldn't be effective; he also seemed the least favoured among the trio of Pietersen, Taylor and White. Eoin Morgan just couldn't score. Neither could Ross Taylor after his heroics in the Champions League. It does look as though White's tenure at RCB is over; perhaps we'll see him at Kochi next year with his Aussie skipper Michael Clarke.

Mumbai Indians (league: won 10, lost 4, losing finalist)

Top five

The big riddle of IPL3 will be: What if Kieron Pollard had come in to bat earlier? After a tentative start, Pollard conquered the IPL arena with a brand of aggression that made even Viru look docile. But let's not forget that Pollard is MI's leading player because he also took 15 wickets at a better than par economy rate. To have a PVI below 1000 with his sort of price is a remarkable achievement!

The enduring image of Sachin Tendulkar's batting at IPL3 will be the way he timed and caressed his shots to reach boundaries. Tendulkar hit 86 fours, but only 3 sixes, and showed that you don't have be brutal to succeed as a T20 batsman. Harbhajan Singh showed what a wonderful T20 player he can be, especially when he replaces slaps with hugs.

Ambati Rayudu provided the most heart-warming story of IPL3; we'll remember IPL3 most for Rayudu's endearing smile after winning a man of the match award, and for that remarkably acrobatic stumping. A lot of commentators called MI's IPL3 approach 'fearless'. Saurabh Tiwary with his flaying hair and carefree batting best exemplified this approach. We are all watching; let's see how this talented lad grows up.

Disappointing four

Jean-Paul Duminy had an unhappy IPL3: first he didn't find a place in the batting eleven, and then he didn't find the correct batting slot. Duminy is the sort of player who needs to bat in the top four; he must have wondered why Rayudu and Tiwary always batted ahead of him. In fact the MI batting order never made too much sense. Sanath Jayasuriya's is a sad story of declining ability. His MVPI over the last three years has gone down shockingly: 729, 302 and, now, 79. It looks very much like 'exit cricketer, enter politician' for him now, unless he sparkles one last time in the T20 World Cup.

Dwayne Bravo too suffered because he had to bat lower down, and, when he tried to bowl, he found that the ball was going all over the place. He even failed as MI captain! Rajagopal Sathish must be feeling miserable; like Rayudu, this ICL refugee too got his chance … but, unlike Rayudu, he failed to make the grade.

Chennai Super Kings (league: won 7, lost 7, Champions)

Top five

Suresh Raina wasn't just CSK's top player; our analysis makes him IPL3's most valuable player (MVP), and even the most valuable player across the three IPLs (MVPI sum of 1976 in IPL1+IPL2+IPL3). Raina batted with great aggression, but was always in control. He often bowled during the most difficult phase of the innings and managed to take a wicket or at least slow the batting tempo. His only blemish – if you could call it that – was his captaincy; but then, it's impossibly hard to substitute for a Dhoni.

Murali Vijay's electric 127 was a revelation, but the bigger revelation was that he is indeed equipped to bat in the T20 mode.

Everyone called Albie Morkel a failure, but look at his numbers: he consistently made useful contributions. M S Dhoni spent the first half of the IPL telling us how you could do social networking with Aircel, but when he heard the call of the mountains he hit two sixes to change everything for CSK. It was hard to pick the last name on this list – with Hayden, Muralitharan, Badrinath, Bollinger and Jakati all having MVPIs of about 300 or more – but we picked R Ashwin for his fearless bowling at the start of the innings, and an amazing performance in the all-important final.

Disappointing four

Matthew Hayden figures in this list not because he was an abject failure but because his performance has dropped appreciably given his lofty standards. A PVI of 987 suggests that he still offers a great return on investment, but he no longer appears intimidating. Hayden has to play it differently in IPL4, he can start by setting that mongoose bat on fire.

Justin Kemp was unfortunate to be injured but a strike rate of 108 doesn't do justice to a recognized striker. L Balaji and Sudeep Tyagi struggled with the new ball in the first half of the tournament till respite came in the form of Doug Bollinger.