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Right through the cricket season we publish an updated list of India's most valuable One-Day International (ODI) players, although it is sometimes confusing to figure out when a cricket season ends and the next one begins in India.
We've therefore decided that we will 'define' the Indian Premier League (IPL) to be the last event of the season.
This year's list contains surprises. Some of the usual suspects -- Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh -- either don't figure or figure low down.
Instead, we see Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli up there -- together with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who already bids to be India's most consistent ODI performer of all time.
Of course, these are early days as we enter what's going to be an ODI World Cup season. We will need the Tendulkars and Sehwags to return up there if India is to have any hopes of lifting that Cup.
Table 1 shows India's most valuable players after the debacle in Zimbabwe and success in Dambulla.
Seeing Jadeja near the top is a trifle worrying; we'd like to see real match-winners up there. But we can't quibble too much: Jadeja makes small contributions in every match he plays, and he's playing a lot of matches!
Recall that players are most likely to be up the list if they score a lot of runs at a high strike rate, take a lot of wickets with a low economy rate and field competently.
Table 1: India's most valuable players in the 2010-11 ODI season (8 matches so far)
| Player Name | Runs | Six | Four | Strike Rate | Bat Pts | W | Eco | Bowl Pts | Field Pts | M | MVPI |
| Rohit Sharma | 392 | 6 | 25 | 90.3 | 422.3 | 1 | 6.3 | 21.0 | 0 | 8 | 443 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 162 | 3 | 9 | 82.7 | 160.7 | 9 | 4.7 | 246.8 | 35 | 8 | 443 |
| MS Dhoni | 173 | 3 | 13 | 79.0 | 163.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 67.5 | 4 | 231 |
| Virat Kohli | 235 | 0 | 16 | 75.1 | 209.2 | 0 | 5.3 | -1.0 | 15 | 8 | 223 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 203 | 1 | 17 | 82.9 | 201.8 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 0 | 4 | 202 |
| Suresh Raina | 165 | 3 | 12 | 91.2 | 179.2 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 15 | 8 | 194 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 206 | 0 | 29 | 75.5 | 184.5 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 5 | 6 | 190 |
| Praveen Kumar | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.0 | 3.5 | 6 | 4.4 | 170.0 | 5 | 4 | 179 |
| Zaheer Khan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | -0.8 | 6 | 5.0 | 149.5 | 10 | 4 | 159 |
| Ashish Nehra | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 6 | 5.7 | 134.0 | 5 | 3 | 139 |
| Pragyan Ojha | 12 | 0 | 1 | 48.0 | 3.2 | 4 | 4.3 | 129.0 | 0 | 4 | 132 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 22 | 2 | 0 | 122.2 | 29.0 | 3 | 4.5 | 86.0 | 5 | 3 | 120 |
| Virendra Sehwag | 21 | 0 | 3 | 45.7 | 3.7 | 4 | 4.3 | 104.2 | 10 | 2 | 118 |
| R Ashwin | 38 | 1 | 4 | 118.8 | 49.3 | 2 | 5.0 | 50.0 | 0 | 1 | 99 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 70 | 3 | 7 | 98.6 | 80.8 | 0 | 7.5 | -20.0 | 10 | 4 | 71 |
| Ashok Dinda | 18 | 0 | 1 | 60.0 | 11.0 | 3 | 6.0 | 36.2 | 0 | 5 | 47 |
| Vinay Kumar | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 2 | 6.4 | 39.0 | 0 | 1 | 39 |
| Amit Mishra | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | -2.5 | 1 | 4.9 | 27.0 | 0 | 3 | 25 |
| Murali Vijay | 46 | 0 | 2 | 46.0 | 8.7 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 10 | 3 | 19 |
| Umesh Yadav | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.0 | 3.5 | 1 | 5.9 | 6.0 | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| Naman Ojha | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14.3 | -3.8 | 0 | -- | 0.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| Pankaj Singh | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.0 | 3.5 | 0 | 6.4 | -10.0 | 5 | 1 | -2 |
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 | *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
India has participated in two ODI tournaments so far. Tables 2 and 3, respectively, show how Indian players performed in comparison to their opponents at Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
Table 2: Most valuable players in the Zimbabwe Triangular Series (May 28-June 9, 2010)
| Player Name | Team | Runs | Six | Four | Top score | Strike Rate | W | Eco | M | MVPI |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | SL | 328 | 4 | 38 | 108 | 103.8 | 2 | 4.5 | 5 | 464 |
| Brendan Taylor | ZIM | 295 | 4 | 22 | 119 | 82.6 | 0 | -- | 5 | 328 |
| Rohit Sharma | IND | 260 | 6 | 13 | 114 | 91.5 | 0 | 5.0 | 4 | 283 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | IND | 131 | 3 | 8 | 61 | 82.4 | 5 | 4.9 | 4 | 259 |
| Upul Tharanga | SL | 209 | 2 | 23 | 72 | 82.6 | 0 | -- | 5 | 225 |
| Hamilton Masakadza | ZIM | 181 | 4 | 13 | 66 | 76.7 | 1 | 5.0 | 5 | 205 |
| Suraj Randiv | SL | 10 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 90.9 | 6 | 4.5 | 5 | 180 |
| Jeevan Mendis | SL | 42 | 0 | 5 | 35 | 97.7 | 4 | 4.4 | 4 | 179 |
| Dinesh Chandimal | SL | 143 | 5 | 9 | 111 | 85.1 | 0 | -- | 4 | 171 |
| Virat Kohli | IND | 168 | 0 | 10 | 82 | 77.8 | 0 | -- | 4 | 166 |
| Nuwan Kulasekara | SL | 19 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 135.7 | 3 | 3.8 | 4 | 154 |
| Dilhara Fernando | SL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5 | 5.0 | 4 | 153 |
| Tatenda Taibu | ZIM | 126 | 1 | 5 | 71 | 76.4 | 0 | -- | 3 | 135 |
| Pragyan Ojha | IND | 12 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 54.5 | 4 | 4.1 | 3 | 134 |
| Charles Coventry | ZIM | 81 | 4 | 5 | 32 | 114.1 | 0 | -- | 5 | 125 |
| Ajantha Mendis | SL | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100.0 | 5 | 5.1 | 4 | 124 |
| Greg Lamb | ZIM | 74 | 0 | 1 | 37 | 58.3 | 3 | 5.0 | 4 | 118 |
| Prosper Utseya | ZIM | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 55.6 | 4 | 4.9 | 5 | 107 |
| Thilan Thushara | SL | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 87.5 | 4 | 5.7 | 2 | 100 |
| R Ashwin | IND | 38 | 1 | 4 | 38 | 118.8 | 2 | 5.0 | 1 | 99 |
| Craig Ervine | ZIM | 83 | 0 | 6 | 67 | 79.8 | 0 | -- | 5 | 92 |
| Angelo Mathews | SL | 75 | 2 | 2 | 75 | 78.9 | 0 | 3.5 | 2 | 89 |
| Suresh Raina | IND | 83 | 0 | 7 | 37 | 83.8 | 0 | -- | 4 | 89 |
| Chris Mpofu | ZIM | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 66.7 | 4 | 5.6 | 4 | 88 |
| Ray Price | ZIM | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 50.0 | 2 | 4.5 | 5 | 85 |
| Dinesh Karthik | IND | 100 | 0 | 14 | 33 | 68.5 | 0 | -- | 4 | 83 |
| Graeme Cremer | ZIM | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 53.8 | 3 | 5.0 | 5 | 79 |
| Chamara Kapugedera | SL | 74 | 1 | 2 | 42 | 59.7 | 0 | 4.0 | 5 | 74 |
| Yusuf Pathan | IND | 70 | 3 | 7 | 44 | 98.6 | 0 | 7.5 | 4 | 71 |
| Thilan Samaraweera | SL | 63 | 0 | 6 | 28 | 82.9 | 0 | -- | 4 | 68 |
| Ashok Dinda | IND | 16 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 88.9 | 3 | 5.8 | 4 | 67 |
| Elton Chigumbura | ZIM | 51 | 0 | 5 | 24 | 100.0 | 0 | 8.5 | 5 | 64 |
| Andy Blignaut | ZIM | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 33.3 | 1 | 3.2 | 3 | 60 |
| Thissara Perera | SL | 40 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 102.6 | 1 | 7.7 | 4 | 50 |
| Chamu Chibhabha | ZIM | 58 | 1 | 4 | 58 | 71.6 | 0 | 10.0 | 1 | 41 |
| Vinay Kumar | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 2 | 6.4 | 1 | 39 |
| Amit Mishra | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 4.9 | 3 | 25 |
| Murali Vijay | IND | 46 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 46.0 | 0 | -- | 3 | 19 |
| Umesh Yadav | IND | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 100.0 | 1 | 5.9 | 3 | 15 |
| Lahiru Thirimanne | SL | 15 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 71.4 | 0 | -- | 1 | 13 |
| Chamara Silva | SL | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 100.0 | 0 | -- | 2 | 6 |
| Naman Ojha | IND | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 14.3 | 0 | -- | 1 | 1 |
| Pankaj Singh | IND | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 100.0 | 0 | 6.4 | 1 | -2 |
Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Top score | Strike rate | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points | AvMVPI = MVPI/M |*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
Table 3: Most valuable players in the Asia Cup (June 15-24, 2010)
| Player Name | Team | Runs | Six | Four | Top score | Strike Rate | W | Eco | M | MVPI |
| Shahid Afridi | PAK | 265 | 12 | 27 | 124 | 164.6 | 3 | 4.6 | 3 | 483 |
| L Malinga | SL | 23 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 100.0 | 9 | 4.4 | 3 | 273 |
| T Dilshan | SL | 113 | 2 | 18 | 71 | 120.2 | 3 | 4.5 | 4 | 256 |
| K Sangakkara | SL | 184 | 0 | 20 | 73 | 73.0 | 0 | -- | 4 | 238 |
| MS Dhoni | IND | 173 | 3 | 13 | 56 | 79.0 | 0 | -- | 4 | 231 |
| Gautam Gambhir | IND | 203 | 1 | 17 | 83 | 82.9 | 0 | -- | 4 | 202 |
| A Mathews | SL | 97 | 1 | 5 | 55 | 93.3 | 3 | 4.8 | 4 | 191 |
| M Jayawardene | SL | 161 | 1 | 15 | 54 | 87.0 | 0 | -- | 4 | 190 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | IND | 31 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 83.8 | 4 | 4.4 | 4 | 184 |
| Praveen Kumar | IND | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 100.0 | 6 | 4.4 | 4 | 179 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | BAN | 52 | 0 | 5 | 25 | 91.2 | 5 | 5.7 | 3 | 176 |
| Rohit Sharma | IND | 132 | 0 | 12 | 69 | 88.0 | 1 | 7.0 | 4 | 160 |
| Zaheer Khan | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6 | 5.0 | 4 | 159 |
| Kamran Akmal | PAK | 88 | 3 | 5 | 51 | 106.0 | 0 | -- | 3 | 147 |
| Junaid Siddique | BAN | 135 | 2 | 12 | 97 | 91.2 | 0 | -- | 2 | 147 |
| Tamim Iqbal | BAN | 107 | 2 | 13 | 51 | 116.3 | 0 | -- | 3 | 142 |
| Umar Akmal | PAK | 101 | 0 | 5 | 50 | 82.1 | 0 | -- | 3 | 140 |
| Ashish Nehra | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 6 | 5.7 | 3 | 139 |
| Shoaib Akhtar | PAK | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 57.1 | 4 | 4.3 | 3 | 127 |
| F Maharoof | SL | 11 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 64.7 | 5 | 5.7 | 3 | 122 |
| Harbhajan Singh | IND | 22 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 122.2 | 3 | 4.5 | 3 | 120 |
| Virender Sehwag | IND | 21 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 45.7 | 4 | 4.3 | 2 | 118 |
| Imran Farhat | PAK | 91 | 2 | 9 | 66 | 74.0 | 1 | 4.2 | 2 | 114 |
| W Tharanga | SL | 119 | 1 | 14 | 54 | 72.1 | 0 | -- | 4 | 113 |
| N Kulasekara | SL | 21 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 123.5 | 2 | 4.5 | 3 | 112 |
| C K Kapugedera | SL | 94 | 3 | 5 | 55 | 75.8 | 0 | -- | 4 | 110 |
| Abdul Razzaq | PAK | 50 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 83.3 | 2 | 4.6 | 3 | 108 |
| KD Karthik | IND | 106 | 0 | 15 | 66 | 83.5 | 0 | -- | 2 | 106 |
| Suresh Raina | IND | 82 | 3 | 5 | 34 | 100.0 | 0 | -- | 4 | 106 |
| Shoaib Malik | PAK | 47 | 0 | 3 | 39 | 78.3 | 2 | 5.3 | 2 | 92 |
| M Muralitharan | SL | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 50.0 | 3 | 5.1 | 3 | 86 |
| Imrul Kayes | BAN | 106 | 0 | 10 | 66 | 68.8 | 0 | -- | 3 | 84 |
| Shafiul Islam | BAN | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 20.0 | 5 | 6.9 | 3 | 83 |
| Salman Butt | PAK | 74 | 0 | 9 | 74 | 84.1 | 0 | -- | 2 | 80 |
| SHT Kandamby | SL | 38 | 0 | 2 | 31 | 64.4 | 2 | 5.1 | 2 | 76 |
| Virat Kohli | IND | 67 | 0 | 6 | 28 | 69.1 | 0 | 5.3 | 4 | 70 |
| Saeed Ajmal | PAK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3 | 5.6 | 1 | 67 |
| Shahzaib Hasan | PAK | 61 | 2 | 7 | 50 | 85.9 | 0 | -- | 2 | 63 |
| UWMBCA Welegedara | SL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 2 | 4.7 | 2 | 55 |
| HMRKB Herath | SL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 2 | 4.4 | 1 | 54 |
| Mushfiqur Rahim | BAN | 37 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 52.1 | 0 | -- | 3 | 35 |
| Mohammad Aamer | PAK | 8 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 38.1 | 2 | 5.7 | 2 | 35 |
| Mahmudullah | BAN | 32 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 45.1 | 1 | 5.7 | 3 | 32 |
| Mohammad Asif | PAK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 6.1 | 2 | 28 |
| Abdur Razzak | BAN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 1 | 4.8 | 1 | 27 |
| Umar Amin | PAK | 34 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 57.6 | 0 | -- | 3 | 24 |
| Asad Shafiq | PAK | 17 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 89.5 | 0 | -- | 1 | 18 |
| T Samaraweera | SL | 17 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 77.3 | 0 | -- | 2 | 16 |
| Abdur Rehman | PAK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.0 | 0 | 3.7 | 1 | 14 |
| R Randiv | SL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- | 0 | 4.4 | 1 | 10 |
| Jahurul Islam | BAN | 11 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 73.3 | 0 | -- | 1 | 10 |
| Mashrafe Mortaza | BAN | 15 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 88.2 | 2 | 8.3 | 3 | 5 |
| Mohammad Ashraful | BAN | 29 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 43.9 | 0 | 4.8 | 2 | 4 |
| Pragyan Ojha | IND | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 4.9 | 1 | -2 |
| Naeem Islam | BAN | 18 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 42.9 | 0 | 7.0 | 2 | -5 |
| Suhrawadi Shuvo | BAN | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 100.0 | 0 | 7.2 | 2 | -16 |
| Ashok Dinda | IND | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16.7 | 0 | 7.8 | 1 | -20 |
| Syed Rasel | BAN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 6.6 | 2 | -26 |
Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Top score | Strike rate | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = sum of batting, bowling and fielding points | AvMVPI = MVPI/M |*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
Table 3 suggests that Sri Lankan players generally out-performed Indian players in the Asia Cup. But when the crunch match game up they lost their way.