While Ajinkya Rahane always scores good runs, he seldom scores them quickly enough.
And he doesn't bowl, although he is a handy fielder.
Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji assess the India-West Indies ODI series.
With a Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) of 314, Ajinkya Rahane has emerged as the most valuable player of the West Indies-India ODI series that ended on Thursday, July 6, at Kingston.
Rahane is an unlikely MVP candidate because while he always scores good runs, he seldom scores them quickly enough.
And he doesn't bowl, although he is a handy fielder.
Recall that the MVPI formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate, and fielders who take the most catches or participate in run outs.
MVPI expresses a player's overall batting + bowling + fielding performance in terms of a 'run equivalent'.
West Indies Captain Jason Holder (303) is second in the list.
Not surprisingly, because it was a one-sided series, only two West Indian players figure in the top ten of the list.
Shai Hope (163), who scored runs, but rather slowly, is the other West Indian placed 9th on the list.
Table 1 shows the complete list.
Table 1: Most Valuable Players
| Rank | Player | Runs | Top Score | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | Wickets | Economy | Maidens | MVPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Ajinkya Rahane |
336 | 103 | 34 | 3 | 77.1 | 0 | - | 5 | 314 |
| 2 | Jason Holder | 82 | 36 | 6 | 2 | 100 | 8 | 5.1 | 5 | 303 |
| 3 | Virat Kohli | 244 | 111 | 19 | 6 | 93.1 | 0 | - | 5 | 280 |
| 4 | Kuldeep Yadav | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33.3 | 8 | 4.1 | 5 | 246 |
| 5 | Hardik Pandya | 24 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 92.3 | 6 | 4.2 | 5 | 215 |
| 6 | Shikhar Dhawan | 161 | 87 | 19 | 2 | 96.4 | 0 | - | 5 | 188 |
| 7 | Umesh Yadav | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 4.8 | 5 | 187 |
| 8 | M S Dhoni | 154 | 78 | 7 | 2 | 71.6 | 0 | - | 5 | 169 |
| 9 | Shai Hope | 181 | 81 | 13 | 3 | 65.8 | 0 | - | 5 | 163 |
| 10 | Kedar Jadhav | 63 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 137 | 2 | 3.1 | 5 | 161 |
| 11 | Devendra Bishoo | 25 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 44.6 | 4 | 4.5 | 5 | 133 |
| 12 | Ravichandran Ashwin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 4 | 3.9 | 3 | 120 |
| 13 | Mohammed Shami | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 4 | 4.1 | 2 | 119 |
| 14 | Alzarri Joseph | 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 66.7 | 6 | 6.6 | 4 | 110 |
| 15 | Ashley Nurse | 29 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 61.7 | 2 | 4.2 | 5 | 102 |
| 16 | Kyle Hope | 100 | 46 | 16 | 0 | 67.6 | 0 | - | 3 | 82 |
| 17 | Ravindra Jadeja | 11 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 3.8 | 2 | 73 |
| 18 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 2.8 | 3 | 72 |
| 19 | Rovman Powell | 63 | 31 | 5 | 2 | 75 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 60 |
| 20 | Yuvraj Singh | 57 | 39 | 5 | 0 | 76 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 52 |
| 21 | Roston Chase | 59 | 33 | 4 | 0 | 78.7 | 0 | 13.6 | 5 | 50 |
| 22 | Miguel Cummins | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 3 | 6.1 | 3 | 50 |
| 23 | Dinesh Karthik | 52 | 50 | 5 | 0 | 73.2 | 0 | - | 2 | 45 |
| 24 | Evin Lewis | 67 | 35 | 4 | 2 | 54.9 | 0 | - | 5 | 42 |
| 25 | Jason Mohammed | 76 | 40 | 5 | 0 | 53.9 | 0 | - | 5 | 35 |
| 26 | Kesrick Williams | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 42.9 | 1 | 4.9 | 3 | 27 |
| 27 | Jonathan Carter | 13 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 41.9 | 0 | 4.7 | 2 | 1 |
| 28 | Kieran Powell | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | -3 |
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<
On May 1, 2017, we also entered a new international cricket season.
Table 2 summarises the performance so far of all India's ODI players in the 2017-2018 season, which includes the Champions Trophy and the series against the West Indies.
Virat Kohli stays at the top (he also topped the previous season).
Shikhar Dhawan has made a commendable comeback.
Hardik Pandya is 3rd, and the way he's playing, expect him to challenge his captain for the top place pretty soon.
Table 2: Most Valuable Indian ODI players in the 2017-2018 season (10 matches so far)
| Rank | Player name | Runs | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | Wickets | Economy | Maidens | MVPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Virat Kohli | 502 | 45 | 10 | 96 | 0 | 5.7 | 10 | 611 |
| 2 | Shikhar Dhawan | 499 | 63 | 6 | 100 | 0 | - | 10 | 592 |
| 3 | Hardik Pandya | 129 | 5 | 11 | 161.3 | 10 | 5.2 | 10 | 460 |
| 4 | Rohit Sharma | 304 | 29 | 7 | 86.9 | 0 | - | 5 | 316 |
| 5 | M S Dhoni | 221 | 14 | 4 | 78.1 | 0 | - | 10 | 316 |
| 6 | Ajinkya Rahane | 336 | 34 | 3 | 77.1 | 0 | - | 5 | 314 |
| 7 | Kedar Jadhav | 97 | 11 | 2 | 134.7 | 5 | 4.9 | 10 | 302 |
| 8 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12.5 | 9 | 4.3 | 8 | 293 |
| 9 | Umesh Yadav | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 252 |
| 10 | Kuldeep Yadav | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33.3 | 8 | 4.1 | 5 | 246 |
| 11 | Ravindra Jadeja | 26 | 1 | 0 | 70.3 | 4 | 5.2 | 7 | 187 |
| 12 | Yuvraj Singh | 162 | 18 | 2 | 89.5 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 178 |
| 13 | Jasprit Bumrah | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11.1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 125 |
| 14 | Ravichandran Ashwin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33.3 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 123 |
| 15 | Mohammed Shami | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 4 | 4.1 | 2 | 119 |
| 16 | Dinesh Karthik | 52 | 5 | 0 | 73.2 | 0 | - | 2 | 45 |
