Maxwell still the Most Valuable Player in IPL-7

So 52 games have already been played in the Indian Premier League this season. Here are the Most Valuable players and some random observations by Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle.

When you have a spreadsheet rich with IPL7 data it is easy to discover some interesting -- but trivial -- facts. That’s what we will attempt in this update, prepared late on Friday night.

But first let us reproduce the latest MVPI table; recall that MVPI collapses a player’s batting, bowling and fielding performances into a one-dimensional ‘run equivalent’.

Glenn Maxwell is still the MVPI leader, but Robin Uthappa is hot on his heels. Batsmen continue to dominate the IPL, especially after returning to India -- but this isn’t particularly surprising.

The table also lists the PVI -- that measures how much a player earns for every ‘run equivalent’ that he contributes.

 Here now is some random trivia, retrieved from the full spreadsheet.

#Do top India players take IPL lightly?

Only 3 Indians figure in the top 11, when you expect, on the average, 7 Indians. Could it be that the best Indian players take the IPL rather lightly? Viral Kohli has scored just 286 runs from 13 matches with a strike rate below 120. Shikhar Dhawan (348, 120.8), Rohit Sharma (354, 128.7) and Suresh Raina (364, 128.6) have scored runs, but never looked entirely convincing. Barring Bhuvaneshwar Kumar (20 wickets, economy rate 6.5), the other bowling regulars either don’t have enough wickets, or have conceded too many runs: R Ashwin (13, 7.0), Ravindra Jadeja (16, 7.9), Amit Mishra (7, 9.1), Mohammed Shami (6, 8.4).

# Indians players on the comeback trail trying harder?

In contrast look at the performance of Robin Uthappa (572 runs), Yuvraj Singh (351 runs, 4 wickets), Virender Sehwag (315 runs), Gautam Gambhir (283 runs), Mohit Sharma (18 wickets), Varun Aaron (16 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (11 wickets, 6.1 economy rate). They seem to be trying harder. Sadly, the Pathan brothers are still getting nowhere.

# The captains are not faring too well

Look at the MVPI list and search for the captains. Rohit Sharma (MVPI 404) is at No 14, Shane Watson  (374) at 16, M S Dhoni  (341) at 20, Shikhar Dhawan (332; now replaced) is at 23, George Bailey (284) at 37, Virat Kohli (283) at 38, Gautam Gambhir (236) at 51 and Kevin Pietersen (221) is at 52! Are they overworked or under severe pressure?

#Australia, South Africa doing well, West Indies and NZ disappoint

Players from Australia and South Africa have almost always performed well in the IPL, largely due to their strong work ethic. We see the same this year.  Glenn Maxwell (MVPI 702), David Warner (607), Shane Watson (374), Mitchell Starc (370) and James Faulkner (353) have excelled. Mitchell Johnson, Steve Smith and Shaun Marsh have had fewer chances but done reasonably well. Only George Bailey, Brad Hodge and Mike Hussey have been disappointing.

J-P Duminy (489), A B de Villiers (476) and David Miller (438) are having an excellent IPL.  Faf du Plessis, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis and Morne Morkel haven’t done that well, or got fewer opportunities.

However it has been a poor year for West Indies and New Zealand. While Dwayne Smith (580) and Sunil Narine (453) have done well as usual, Chris Gayle (152) and Kieron Pollard (254) have not done anything amazing and Darren Sammy hasn’t really impressed. Only Brendon McCullum (401) from New Zealand has done enough. Cory Anderson (179) has disappointed and Ross Taylor hasn’t had many opportunities.

#Indian strike rates dropping

Indian batsmen have averaged poorer strike rates this year. Among the regulars, only Dhoni (146.6) has a strike rate above 140. Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa and Sehwag are in the 130s and Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina are below 130. In contrast Glen Maxwell and James Faulkner are 190+, A B de Villiers, Shakib al Hasan and David Miller are in the 150s and David Warner is 140. Kieron Pollard and Shane Watson are barely above 130 and shockingly Chris Gayle is just 106!

# Who’s paisa vasool and who isn’t?

Among the foreign players, those who were sold at relatively low values are obviously offering the best value. Lendl Simmons ($144 for every ‘run’), Imran Tahir ($248 per run), J-P Duminy ($696) and Shakib al Hasan ($985), Dwayne Smith ($1201), Brendon McCullum ($1254), Glenn Maxwell ($1323) and David Warner ($1402) have been the best buys.

Foreign players costing $4000-5000 per ‘run’ include Jacques Kallis, David Miller, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga; the $5000-6000 per ‘run’ range includes ShaneWatson and Brad Hodge; and above $6000 include Dale Steyn, Mike Hussey and Kevin Pietersen. The biggest failure so far has been Chris Gayle who costs just under $10,000 (Rs 6L) per ‘run’!

Indians players offering best value for money (less than $1500 per ‘run’) include Sandeep Sharma, Robin Uthappa and Virender Sehwag. Indian players in the $4000-6000 range include Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, M S Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik and Shikhar Dhawan. Indian players above $6000 per ‘run’ include (in ascending order) Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Amit Sharma.