It was no surprise that Virender Sehwag emerged as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Sri Lanka Triangular series recently concluded in Dambulla (featuring India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka).
See Table 1, below, for the full list.
The bigger surprise is that the next four Indian players on the list are all bowlers.
Only Mahendra Singh Dhoni, at #19, managed to bat a bit, but see where India's 'batsmen' figure on the list!
Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir will be back for the World Cup and that will help.
But it might still be more reassuring to see Rahul Dravid's name in the squad instead of some of these fair-weather-flat-pitch batsmen.
Table 1: Most valuable players in the Sri Lanka Triangular Series (Aug 10-28, 2010)
|
|
Player Name |
Team |
Runs |
Six |
Four |
Top Score |
Strike Rate |
W |
Eco |
M |
MVPI |
|
1 |
Virender Sehwag |
IND |
268 |
3 |
38 |
110 |
107.20 |
0 |
4.8 |
5 |
330 |
|
2 |
Kyle Mills |
NZ |
72 |
3 |
10 |
52 |
110.77 |
8 |
4.7 |
4 |
315 |
|
3 |
Tillakaratne Dilshan |
SL |
239 |
1 |
34 |
110 |
91.57 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
271 |
|
4 |
Praveen Kumar |
IND |
21 |
1 |
2 |
14 |
56.76 |
9 |
5.1 |
5 |
243 |
|
5 |
Thisara Perera |
SL |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
75.00 |
8 |
3.8 |
2 |
230 |
|
6 |
Angelo Mathews |
SL |
16 |
0 |
2 |
15 |
51.61 |
7 |
3.9 |
5 |
225 |
|
7 |
Scott Styris |
NZ |
114 |
1 |
10 |
89 |
79.72 |
3 |
4.0 |
4 |
219 |
|
8 |
Kumar Sangakkara |
SL |
174 |
1 |
18 |
71 |
82.86 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
218 |
|
9 |
Lasith Malinga |
SL |
5 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
41.67 |
7 |
4.0 |
5 |
211 |
|
10 |
Ashish Nehra |
IND |
8 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
23.53 |
8 |
4.9 |
5 |
198 |
|
11 |
Munaf Patel |
IND |
7 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
63.64 |
5 |
4.0 |
2 |
171 |
|
12 |
Ishant Sharma |
IND |
11 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
22.92 |
7 |
4.9 |
4 |
165 |
|
13 |
Ross Taylor |
NZ |
119 |
1 |
12 |
95 |
73.91 |
0 |
-- |
4 |
144 |
|
14 |
Daryl Tuffey |
NZ |
19 |
1 |
2 |
19 |
135.71 |
4 |
5.5 |
3 |
140 |
|
15 |
Nathan McCullum |
NZ |
41 |
1 |
0 |
36 |
50.00 |
4 |
4.3 |
3 |
139 |
|
16 |
Tim Southee |
NZ |
23 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
65.71 |
5 |
5.6 |
2 |
132 |
|
17 |
Nuwan Kulasekara |
SL |
29 |
1 |
3 |
22 |
87.88 |
3 |
4.4 |
5 |
130 |
|
18 |
Suraj Randiv |
SL |
47 |
0 |
5 |
43 |
72.31 |
3 |
4.5 |
3 |
124 |
|
19 |
MS Dhoni |
IND |
140 |
1 |
12 |
67 |
58.82 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
122 |
|
20 |
Mahela Jayawardene |
SL |
140 |
1 |
15 |
59 |
71.43 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
122 |
|
21 |
Jacob Oram |
NZ |
14 |
0 |
2 |
14 |
140.00 |
2 |
2.7 |
2 |
109 |
|
22 |
Pragyan Ojha |
IND |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
14.29 |
4 |
4.9 |
3 |
104 |
|
23 |
Ravindra Jadeja |
IND |
37 |
0 |
5 |
20 |
46.84 |
3 |
5.4 |
4 |
85 |
|
24 |
Yuvraj Singh |
IND |
75 |
1 |
11 |
38 |
53.96 |
2 |
5.0 |
4 |
84 |
|
25 |
Upul Tharanga |
SL |
100 |
0 |
14 |
70 |
62.11 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
76 |
|
26 |
Chamara Silva |
SL |
67 |
1 |
6 |
41 |
85.90 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
74 |
|
27 |
Rangana Herath |
SL |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
66.67 |
2 |
3.5 |
2 |
72 |
|
28 |
Andy McKay |
NZ |
7 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
28.00 |
2 |
3.8 |
3 |
70 |
|
29 |
Suresh Raina |
IND |
65 |
2 |
5 |
29 |
73.86 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
62 |
|
30 |
Dilhara Fernando |
SL |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
54.55 |
2 |
4.1 |
1 |
60 |
|
31 |
BJ Watling |
NZ |
57 |
0 |
8 |
55 |
72.15 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
58 |
|
32 |
Chamara Kapugedera |
SL |
31 |
0 |
3 |
12 |
65.96 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
58 |
|
33 |
Kane Williamson |
NZ |
13 |
0 |
1 |
13 |
34.21 |
1 |
3.4 |
4 |
46 |
|
34 |
Gareth Hopkins |
NZ |
21 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
55.26 |
0 |
-- |
4 |
40 |
|
35 |
Thilan Samaraweera |
SL |
43 |
0 |
5 |
36 |
70.49 |
0 |
-- |
2 |
40 |
|
36 |
Ajantha Mendis |
SL |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-- |
1 |
4.2 |
2 |
33 |
|
37 |
Virat Kohli |
IND |
45 |
0 |
6 |
37 |
59.21 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
27 |
|
38 |
Martin Guptill |
NZ |
11 |
0 |
2 |
11 |
137.50 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
20 |
|
39 |
Rohit Sharma |
IND |
20 |
0 |
2 |
11 |
46.51 |
0 |
-- |
4 |
19 |
|
40 |
Dinesh Karthik |
IND |
33 |
0 |
5 |
14 |
39.29 |
0 |
-- |
5 |
16 |
|
41 |
Peter Ingram |
NZ |
12 |
0 |
2 |
12 |
70.59 |
0 |
-- |
2 |
10 |
|
42 |
Grant Elliott |
NZ |
18 |
0 |
1 |
11 |
35.29 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
-7 |
|
43 |
Abhimanyu Mithun |
IND |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
25.00 |
0 |
6.0 |
1 |
-9 |
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 |*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.
In Table 2, we list the most valuable Indian ODI players of the current 2010-11 season. This table will, henceforth, be ordered on the basis of the average MVPI, i.e., we divide the MVPI total by the number of matches played by the player.
Averaging the MVPI makes eminent sense in general, but there is the occasional risk that 'outliers' may top the list; someone just plays one match, does very well and finds himself on top!
Table 2: India's most valuable players in the 2010-11 ODI season (13 matches so far)
|
|
Player Name |
Runs |
Six |
Four |
Strike Rate |
Bat Pts |
W |
Eco |
Bowl Pts |
Field Pts |
M |
MVPI |
Av MVPI |
|
1 |
V Sehwag |
289 |
3 |
41 |
97.6 |
331 |
4 |
4.6 |
106.2 |
10 |
7 |
448 |
63.9 |
|
2 |
G Gambhir |
203 |
1 |
17 |
82.9 |
202 |
0 |
-- |
0 |
0 |
4 |
202 |
50.5 |
|
3 |
Praveen Kumar |
24 |
1 |
2 |
60 |
14.7 |
16 |
4.8 |
417 |
15 |
9 |
447 |
49.6 |
|
4 |
R Jadeja |
199 |
3 |
14 |
72.4 |
169 |
12 |
4.8 |
313.8 |
45 |
12 |
528 |
44 |
|
5 |
Ashish Nehra |
8 |
0 |
1 |
23.5 |
-12 |
14 |
5.2 |
339 |
10 |
8 |
337 |
42.1 |
|
6 |
Ishant Sharma |
11 |
0 |
1 |
22.9 |
-18 |
7 |
4.9 |
177.8 |
5 |
4 |
165 |
41.2 |
|
7 |
Zaheer Khan |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-0.8 |
6 |
5 |
149.5 |
10 |
4 |
159 |
39.7 |
|
8 |
MS Dhoni |
313 |
4 |
25 |
68.5 |
245 |
0 |
-- |
0 |
108 |
9 |
353 |
39.2 |
|
9 |
Rohit Sharma |
412 |
6 |
27 |
86.4 |
427 |
1 |
6.3 |
21 |
15 |
12 |
463 |
38.5 |
|
10 |
Pragyan Ojha |
14 |
0 |
1 |
35.9 |
-4.5 |
8 |
4.5 |
230.8 |
10 |
7 |
236 |
33.8 |
|
11 |
Virat Kohli |
280 |
0 |
22 |
72 |
236 |
0 |
5.3 |
-1 |
15 |
11 |
250 |
22.7 |
|
12 |
Yuvraj Singh |
75 |
1 |
11 |
54 |
34.2 |
2 |
5 |
50 |
0 |
4 |
84 |
21 |
|
13 |
Suresh Raina |
230 |
5 |
17 |
85.5 |
236 |
0 |
-- |
0 |
20 |
13 |
256 |
19.7 |
|
14 |
Dinesh Karthik |
239 |
0 |
34 |
66.9 |
181 |
0 |
-- |
0 |
25 |
11 |
206 |
18.7 |
|
15 |
Yusuf Pathan |
70 |
3 |
7 |
98.6 |
80.8 |
0 |
7.5 |
-20 |
10 |
4 |
71 |
17.7 |
|
16 |
Ashok Dinda |
18 |
0 |
1 |
60 |
11 |
3 |
6 |
36.2 |
0 |
5 |
47 |
9.4 |
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 | 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.
Sehwag rules here too, but take a look at Ravindra Jadeja's MVPI of 528, compiled over 12 matches.
It would appear that Jadeja has just done enough, either with the bat or ball, to keep retaining his place in the side. Of course he is no match-winner; but this Indian team, and that's the crux of the problem, currently has exactly one match-winner!
