IPL 2021: Ravindra Jadeja is Most Valuable Player

Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2021's Most Valuable Players up to Game 21.

IMAGE: Ravindra Jadeja hammered an unbeaten 62 and then returned with three wickets and a run-out as he stamped his authority over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Photograph: BCCI/IPL

Ravindra Jadeja's explosive all-round performance for CSK against RCB has catapulted him to the top of the MVPI table in the ongoing IPL.

With a MVPI of 332, Jadeja streaks ahead of DC's Shikhar Dhawan (MVPI: 277) and RCB's Harshal Patel (279).

Jadeja's 37 runs-in-one-over hammering of Harshal Patel helped him snatch the top spot.

Recall that the Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) collapses a player's batting, bowling and fielding performance into a single index based on run equivalence.

Think of MVPI as the total 'runs equivalent' that a player contributes; the higher the MVPI, the better the player is performing.

With many low-scoring IPL games, bowlers have tended to displace batsmen at the top of the MVPI table; all-rounders, who can contribute with both bat and ball, can be seen in a cluster at the top of the table.

Highly paid IPL players aren't currently providing enough value for money as evident from their high Paisa Vasool Index (PVI).

IMAGE: Harshal Patel picked five wickets in RCB's season opener against the Mumbai Indians. Photograph: BCCI

PVI is calculated by dividing the player's cumulative US$ earning by his cumulative MVPI; the lower the PVI, the more value for money the player offers.

Currently the players performing well and offering best value for money include Harshal Patel (PVI of 36; costs RCB only $36 per run), Avesh Khan (PVI 156), Jonny Bairstow (496), Faf du Plessis (380) and Devdutt Padikkal (53).

Best Performing Players at IPL 2021 (after Match 21 ending April 26, 2021)

Rank	Player	Team	From	Run	Top Score	4s	6s	Strike Rate	Wickets	Economy Rate	Match	MVPI	PVI($)
1	Ravindra Jadeja	CSK	IND	102	62	8	6	192.5	5	6.1	5	332	1046
2	Harshal Patel	RCB	IND	4	4	0	0	36.4	15	8.4	5	279	36
3	Shikhar Dhawan	DC	IND	259	92	32	5	142.3	0	-	5	277	931
4	Chris Morris	RR	SA	48	36	0	5	154.8	9	9	5	238	3387
5	Moeen Ali	CSK	ENG	133	46	14	7	152.9	4	6.3	4	236	1471
6	KL Rahul	KXI	IND	240	91	20	11	129	0	-	6	226	2897
7	Andre Russell	KKR	WI	118	54	10	9	151.3	7	11.4	6	225	2249
8	Avesh Khan	DC	IND	0	0	0	0	-	11	7.6	5	223	156
9	Sanju Samson	RR	IND	187	119	17	9	143.8	0	-	5	222	1788
10	Jonny Bairstow	SRH	ENG	211	63	15	14	141.6	0	-	5	220	496
11	Rahul Chahar	MI	IND	14	8	1	0	107.7	9	6.9	5	218	432
12	Faf du Plessis	CSK	SA	214	95	21	8	139	0	-	5	209	380
13	Pat Cummins	KKR	AUS	82	66	4	8	190.7	6	9.3	6	208	4436
14	Glenn Maxwell	RCB	AUS	198	78	20	8	148.9	0	12	5	203	2627
15	Rashid Khan	SRH	AFG	17	17	1	1	154.5	6	5.6	5	202	2210
16	Deepak Hooda	KXI	IND	110	64	7	8	154.9	2	6.8	6	194	153
17	Devdutt Padikkal	RCB	IND	171	101	19	8	158.3	0	-	4	188	53
18	AB de Villiers	RCB	IND	129	76	13	5	172	0	-	5	180	3031
19	Deepak Chahar	CSK	IND	0	0	0	0	-	8	7.9	5	180	220
20	Prithvi Shaw	DC	IND	166	72	20	6	159.6	0	-	5	176	338
21	Rohit Sharma	MI	IND	201	63	14	9	130.5	0	9	5	171	4351
22	Rahul Tripathi	KKR	IND	168	53	18	4	138.8	0	-	6	171	209
23	Sam Curran	CSK	ENG	52	34	5	3	208	5	9	5	170	1605
24	Suryakumar Yadav	MI	IND	154	56	19	5	143.9	0	-	5	164	968
25	Mohammed Shami	KXI	IND	13	9	0	0	76.5	7	7.7	6	160	1786
26	Prasid Krishna	KKR	IND	0	0	0	0	0	8	9	6	155	77
27	Varun Chakravarthy	KKR	IND	2	2	0	0	50	7	7.7	6	155	1536
28	Arshdeep Singh	KXI	IND	2	1	0	0	66.7	7	8.2	6	154	77
29	Mohammed Siraj	RCB	IND	12	12	0	1	80	5	6.5	5	153	843
30	Kyle Jamieson	RCB	NZ	43	16	4	2	143.3	6	9.2	5	153	4863
31	Virat Kohli	RCB	IND	151	72	16	3	128	0	-	5	151	5584
32	Nitish Rana	KKR	IND	186	80	20	8	122.4	0	-	6	148	1367
33	Rishabh Pant	DC	IND	125	51	16	2	131.6	0	-	5	146	5096
34	Chetan Sakariya	RR	IND	0	0	0	0	0	7	8.3	5	143	69
35	Jasprit Bumrah	MI	IND	4	3	0	0	66.7	4	6.4	5	139	2498
36	Jaydev Unadkat	RR	IND	35	24	2	2	145.8	4	6.7	3	138	1078
37	Mayank Agarwal	KXI	IND	161	69	16	7	127.8	0	-	6	137	434
38	Trent Boult	MI	NZ	1	1	0	0	100	6	7.9	5	134	1185
39	Chris Woakes	DC	ENG	15	15	2	0	136.4	5	7.5	3	130	572
40	Krunal Pandya	MI	IND	29	15	4	0	107.4	3	7.3	5	121	3608
41	David Warner	SRH	AUS	136	54	12	4	113.3	0	-	5	118	5255
42	Dinesh Karthik	KKR	IND	109	40	12	3	138	0	-	6	116	3797
43	Kagiso Rabada	DC	IND	9	9	1	0	225	4	8.8	4	108	1929
44	Amit Mishra	DC	IND	0	0	0	0	-	5	7.5	3	107	1854
45	Vijay Shankar	SRH	IND	50	28	0	3	113.6	2	7.3	5	105	1512
46	Riyan Parag	RR	IND	55	25	5	3	141	1	10.6	5	104	95
47	Shahrukh Khan	KXI	IND	103	47	7	6	135.5	0	-	6	104	3005
48	Khaleel Ahmed	SRH	IND	1	1	0	0	50	4	7.3	3	101	1473
49	Dwayne Bravo	CSK	WI	20	20	2	1	250	3	7.7	4	100	3175
50	Jos Buttler	RR	ENG	89	49	13	2	127.1	0	-	5	99	2205