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Despite semis loss, De Villiers still the Most Valuable Player

March 26, 2015 08:39 IST

Despite the heartbreaking semi-final loss to New Zealand, the South African skipper still heads Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings for the World Cup.

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present the MVP rankings after the first semi-final game in Auckland!

Image: A B de Villiers hits a six. Photograph: Phil Walter/Getty Images

One might argue that A B de Villiers made some big mistakes in the semi-final: Choosing to bat first in spite of the rain threat, batting too low at No 5, not hogging the strike after David Miller departed, fielding badly, asking Dale Steyn to bowl the last over, but he is still best placed to be adjudged the most valuable player of the 2015 World Cup.

The Most Valuable Player Index (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 the most run out dismissals -- and collapses a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'.

So A B de Villiers's all-round show is equivalent to scoring 875 'runs' at an average of over 100.

Despite being in the semi-final -- and after winning every game -- Indian players are still invisible in the MVPI table behind stalwarts from New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka. Hopefully that will change if India continue their progress at Sydney.

Table: Most valuable players so far in 2015 World Cup (after first SF; as on March 24, 2015)

Rank Player Team Runs 4s 6s Strike Rate W Eco Ct St Run Outs M MVPI
1 A B de Villiers SA 482 43 21 144.3 4 6.1 6 3 8 875
2 Kumar Sangakkara SL 541 57 7 105.9 0 0.0 8 0 7 696
3 Martin Guptill NZ 532 58 15 108.8 0 0.0 4 0 8 677
4 Corey Anderson NZ 231 22 9 109.5 14 6.5 3 0 8 600
5 Tillakaratne Dilshan SL 395 46 3 96.6 5 4.9 3 0 7 593
6 Glenn Maxwell AUS 301 32 13 183.5 5 6.3 0 1 6 582
7 Chris Gayle WI 340 17 26 117.2 5 5.4 5 0 6 581
8 Brendan Taylor ZIM 433 43 12 106.9 0 0.0 4 1 6 574
9 Trent Boult NZ 0 0 0 0.0 21 4.4 0 0 8 567
10 Sean Williams ZIM 339 29 6 109.0 7 6.4 4 0 6 553
11 Daniel Vettori NZ 41 5 1 164.0 15 4.0 6 0 8 538
12 Mitchell Starc AUS 0 0 0 0.0 18 3.7 4 0 6 527
13 Brendon McCullum NZ 328 44 17 191.8 0 0.0 2 0 8 524
14 Wahab Riaz PAK 83 9 2 97.6 16 5.6 4 1 7 503
15 Mohammed Shami IND 7 1 0 87.5 17 4.4 5 0 6 486
16 Morne Morkel SA 8 1 0 61.5 17 4.4 2 0 8 482
17 David Miller SA 324 21 14 139.1 0 0.0 3 0.5 8 481
18 Imran Tahir SA 8 1 0 50.0 15 4.2 2 0 8 446
19 Shakib Al Hasan BAN 196 18 3 93.8 8 5.2 2 1 6 443
20 Umesh Yadav IND 0 0 0 0.0 14 4.5 8 1 7 443
21 Mushfiqur Rahim BAN 298 26 5 105.7 0 0.0 8 1.5 6 439
22 Jerome Taylor WI 37 5 0 77.1 17 5.7 1 0 7 424
23 Shikhar Dhawan IND 367 42 8 90.0 0 0.0 6 0 7 424
24 Hashim Amla SA 333 35 5 95.1 0 0.0 6 0.5 8 417
25 Suresh Raina IND 277 24 8 112.1 1 4.3 6 0 7 414
26 David Warner AUS 288 30 8 123.1 0 0.0 5 0 6 406
27 Faf du Plessis SA 380 28 4 84.6 0 7.5 6 0 7 406
28 Angelo Mathews SL 195 11 7 89.9 6 5.8 1 2 7 386
29 Mahmudullah BAN 365 30 6 81.8 1 5.6 2 0 6 378
30 Ravichandran Ashwin IND 25 0 0 61.0 12 4.3 3 0 7 378
31 Jason Holder WI 155 12 9 112.3 9 6.1 3 0 7 374
32 Andre Russell WI 104 7 9 185.7 11 6.4 2 0 7 373
33 Virat Kohli IND 304 29 1 84.2 0 0.0 4 1.5 7 365
34 Josh Davey SCOT 55 5 0 62.5 15 6.2 2 0 6 361
35 Tim Southee NZ 12 1 1 171.4 15 5.6 2 0 8 361
36 Shaiman Anwar UAE 311 34 4 91.5 0 6.0 1 0.5 6 356
37 Misbah-ul-Haq PAK 350 25 7 75.1 0 0.0 3 1 7 352
38 Mohit Sharma IND 0 0 0 0.0 11 4.5 2 1 7 336
39 Jean-Paul Duminy SA 164 13 3 102.5 6 5.8 3 0 6 333
40 Rohit Sharma IND 296 32 7 94.9 0 7.0 1 0 7 331
41 Lahiru Thirimanne SL 302 29 2 84.8 0 0.0 4 0 7 327
42 Moeen Ali ENG 192 24 5 105.5 4 5.3 0 0 5 321
43 Rilee Rossouw SA 210 23 5 116.7 0 6.5 9 0 6 312
44 Grant Elliott NZ 227 22 6 107.1 2 8.5 2 0 8 309
45 MS Dhoni IND 172 15 4 103.0 0 0.0 15 1 7 305
46 Dale Steyn SA 17 3 0 70.8 11 5.0 3 0 8 302
47 Ed Joyce IRL 246 23 5 98.4 0 0.0 3 0 6 299
48 Marlon Samuels WI 230 20 5 77.2 3 5.0 2 0 7 296
49 Amjad Javed UAE 170 21 4 87.2 7 6.5 3 0 6 295
50 Richie Berrington SCOT 139 9 5 76.0 7 5.7 0 0 6 284
51 Lasith Malinga SL 4 0 0 33.3 12 5.6 3 0 7 277
52 Aaron Finch AUS 199 19 5 108.7 0 0.0 6 0 6 276
53 Ravindra Jadeja IND 41 6 0 97.6 9 5.3 1 0.5 7 272
54 Andy Balbirnie IRL 236 20 4 90.8 0 0.0 0 0.5 6 268
55 Steven Smith AUS 241 23 2 87.6 0 9.5 4 0 6 264
56 Kyle Abbott SA 12 2 0 63.2 9 4.2 1 0 4 263
57 Kyle Coetzer SCOT 253 33 4 89.7 0 7.4 1 0 6 257
58 Shapoor Zadran AFG 17 2 0 81.0 10 5.2 0 0 6 257
59 Sohail Khan PAK 21 1 0 50.0 12 5.9 1 0 7 257
60 Niall O'Brien IRL 199 23 3 109.3 0 0.0 2 0 6 256
61 Joe Root ENG 202 19 2 84.2 1 6.2 7 0 6 253
62 Umar Akmal PAK 164 17 2 80.4 0 0.0 11 1.5 7 251
63 Shane Watson AUS 178 20 3 110.6 2 6.6 1 0 5 248
64 Soumya Sarkar BAN 173 23 3 89.6 0 4.6 7 1 6 248
65 Mohammad Naveed UAE 73 6 5 123.7 8 6.1 1 0 6 247
66 Ian Bell ENG 262 27 0 77.3 0 0.0 0 0 6 242
67 Mitchell Johnson AUS 4 0 0 36.4 10 5.5 3 0 6 240
68 Sabbir Rahman BAN 182 18 5 98.4 1 6.5 3 0.5 6 238
69 Jos Buttler ENG 141 17 2 135.6 0 0.0 8 0 6 235
70 Kane Williamson NZ 222 27 2 83.1 0 6.0 3 0 8 235
71 William Porterfield IRL 275 22 3 67.2 0 0.0 5 0 6 234
72 Brad Haddin AUS 119 15 4 163.0 0 0.0 11 0 6 232
73 Michael Clarke AUS 135 14 2 93.8 1 2.8 4 1 5 231
74 Shahid Afridi PAK 116 10 6 133.3 2 4.9 3 0 7 228
75 Tendai Chatara ZIM 23 2 0 65.7 10 5.7 0 0 6 223
76 Paul Stirling IRL 159 17 5 100.0 2 5.7 2 0 6 221
77 Sikandar Raza ZIM 125 15 4 99.2 2 4.9 2 0.5 6 221
78 Alex Cusack IRL 19 1 0 82.6 7 4.6 2 0 4 219
79 Quinton de Kock SA 145 21 0 82.9 0 0.0 10 1 8 219
80 Haris Sohail PAK 177 14 1 72.2 3 6.3 4 0 6 217
81 Thisara Perera SL 62 8 1 144.2 6 6.7 5 1 6 216
82 Chris Woakes ENG 90 6 0 95.7 5 6.2 1 1 5 211
83 Mohammad Irfan PAK 4 0 0 21.1 8 4.5 0 0 5 211
84 Lendl Simmons WI 173 14 8 101.2 0 12.0 2 0 7 207
85 Darren Sammy WI 177 17 6 100.0 1 6.1 1 0 7 205
86 Sarfraz Ahmed PAK 160 12 3 84.7 0 0.0 6 0.5 3 205
87 Ahmed Shehzad PAK 227 24 1 72.5 0 0.0 2 0 7 203
88 Hamid Hassan AFG 38 5 0 44.2 8 5.1 1 0 6 203
89 Mashrafe Mortaza BAN 28 5 0 121.7 7 5.3 1 0 5 202
90 Rahat Ali PAK 7 0 0 25.9 7 4.4 1 0 5 200
91 Sohaib Maqsood PAK 153 12 3 86.9 1 4.0 2 0 7 200
92 Mohammad Nabi AFG 90 8 2 78.3 3 5.7 3 2 6 192
93 Ajinkya Rahane IND 164 19 3 89.1 0 0.0 3 0 7 190
94 Gary Wilson IRL 141 15 1 103.7 0 0.0 4 0 6 189
95 Craig Ervine ZIM 159 12 5 88.3 0 0.0 4 0 6 188
96 Manjula Guruge UAE 14 1 0 53.8 7 4.8 0 0 4 188
97 Matt Machan SCOT 186 21 2 80.9 1 7.8 1 0 6 173
98 Josh Hazlewood AUS 0 0 0 0.0 6 4.2 0 0 3 169
99 Denesh Ramdin WI 107 11 0 70.9 0 0.0 13 0.5 7 166
100 Alasdair Evans SCOT 38 5 0 66.7 6 5.4 0 0 4 164
101 Nasir Hossain BAN 46 6 1 112.2 4 5.2 2 0 3 164

Team ' Runs (scored) ' 4s ' 6s ' Strike rate ' W: Wickets taken ' Eco: Economy rate 'Ct St: Catches, stumpings ' Run outs ' 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.

EARLIER:

Don't miss Prem Panicker on World Cup 2015!

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji, for Rediff.com