Who were the most valuable players in the just-concluded India-Australia ODI series? Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji ‘s formula provides overwhelming evidence that the bat complete overwhelmed the bat.
The just-concluded India-Australia ODI series is being called the ‘bat vs bat’ series. It is, therefore, no surprise that batsmen dominate the Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) tables.
The MVPI formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate and bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate, and expresses a player’s overall batting + bowling + fielding performance in terms of a ‘run equivalent’.
Table 1 lists the MVPI of all the players who played in the ODI series. It provides overwhelming evidence that the bat completely overwhelmed the bat.
- Most Test victories in a row for India
George Bailey, Australia's captain, emerges the MVP, with a MVPI of 663, followed by Rohit Sharma, with a MVPI of 655.
James Faulkner, the only successful all-rounder on either side, is third with a MVPI of 635 – he scored 230 runs but at a strike rate often not seen even in T20 games. Ravindra Jadeja didn’t score runs, and Shane Watson didn’t get enough wickets.
The table also shows that Suresh Raina is struggling as a batsman, and Yuvraj Singh – the hero of India’s 2011 World Cup triumph – is struggling both as a bowler and batsman.
Table 1: Most valuable players in the India-Australia series (Oct 13 – Nov 2, 2013)
|
Rank |
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Str Rate |
W |
Eco |
M |
MVPI |
|
1 |
George Bailey |
AUS |
478 |
116 |
0 |
- |
6 |
663 |
|
2 |
Rohit Sharma |
IND |
491 |
109 |
0 |
- |
6 |
655 |
|
3 |
James Faulkner |
AUS |
230 |
150 |
7 |
7.2 |
6 |
635 |
|
4 |
Virat Kohli |
IND |
344 |
123 |
0 |
11 |
6 |
581 |
|
5 |
Shane Watson |
AUS |
237 |
113 |
3 |
7.2 |
6 |
494 |
|
6 |
Glenn Maxwell |
AUS |
248 |
152 |
1 |
7.3 |
6 |
431 |
|
7 |
MS Dhoni |
IND |
245 |
120 |
0 |
- |
6 |
428 |
|
8 |
Shikhar Dhawan |
IND |
284 |
102 |
0 |
- |
6 |
396 |
|
9 |
Vinay Kumar |
IND |
11 |
55 |
8 |
7.9 |
5 |
361 |
|
10 |
Brad Haddin |
AUS |
78 |
92.9 |
0 |
- |
6 |
321 |
|
11 |
Ravindra Jadeja |
IND |
13 |
59.1 |
8 |
5.6 |
6 |
318 |
|
12 |
R Ashwin |
IND |
33 |
73.3 |
9 |
6 |
6 |
309 |
|
13 |
Aaron Finch |
AUS |
190 |
86.8 |
2 |
4.2 |
6 |
268 |
|
14 |
Mitchell Johnson |
AUS |
34 |
89.5 |
7 |
5.7 |
5 |
240 |
|
15 |
Mohammed Shami |
IND |
0 |
- |
7 |
6.6 |
3 |
239 |
|
16 |
Phillip Hughes |
AUS |
199 |
74.3 |
0 |
- |
6 |
225 |
|
17 |
Clint McKay |
AUS |
36 |
81.8 |
4 |
6.5 |
6 |
203 |
|
18 |
Adam Voges |
AUS |
149 |
84.2 |
1 |
5.3 |
6 |
202 |
|
19 |
Suresh Raina |
IND |
100 |
91.7 |
0 |
5.5 |
6 |
177 |
|
20 |
Ishant Sharma |
IND |
1 |
33.3 |
2 |
7.9 |
3 |
144 |
|
21 |
Bhuvneshwar Kumar |
IND |
28 |
62.2 |
2 |
5.4 |
5 |
141 |
|
22 |
Yuvraj Singh |
IND |
19 |
76 |
2 |
7.2 |
6 |
136 |
|
23 |
Xavier Doherty |
AUS |
0 |
- |
2 |
6.2 |
6 |
128 |
|
24 |
Nathan Coulter-Nile |
AUS |
3 |
60 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
37 |
|
25 |
Amit Mishra |
IND |
0 |
- |
0 |
7.8 |
1 |
28 |
|
26 |
Jaydev Unadkat |
IND |
0 |
- |
0 |
5.2 |
1 |
1 |
Runs (scored) ' 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.
Table 2, which shows India’s most valuable players in the 21 matches played so far in India’s 2013-14 season, confirms Yuvraj’s form decline. For many years, Yuvraj was in the top three of the MVPI list. This year he is languishing at the bottom.
But at least he’s still getting opportunities to play. Renowned ODI stalwarts like Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are completely off the charts!
Table 2: India’s most valuable players in the 2013-14 ODI season (21 matches played; 1 abandoned)
|
Rank |
Player name |
Runs |
6 |
4 |
Strike Rate |
Bat Point |
W |
Eco |
Bowl Point |
Field Point |
M |
MVPI |
|
1 |
Ravindra Jadeja |
227 |
6 |
21 |
82.2 |
224 |
33 |
4.9 |
919.2 |
85 |
21 |
1359 |
|
2 |
Shikhar Dhawan |
991 |
9 |
117 |
95.8 |
1120 |
0 |
5.8 |
0 |
65 |
20 |
1210 |
|
3 |
Virat Kohli |
865 |
15 |
95 |
102.6 |
1028 |
0 |
6.2 |
-35 |
70 |
21 |
1193 |
|
4 |
Rohit Sharma |
984 |
28 |
92 |
82.3 |
972.2 |
0 |
4.9 |
0 |
32.5 |
20 |
1044 |
|
5 |
Ravichandran Ashwin |
78 |
0 |
7 |
78.8 |
73.5 |
23 |
4.7 |
541 |
45 |
16 |
770 |
|
6 |
Bhuvneshwar Kumar |
40 |
1 |
3 |
60.6 |
25 |
18 |
3.6 |
517 |
42.5 |
14 |
659 |
|
7 |
MS Dhoni |
344 |
9 |
32 |
107.2 |
420.5 |
0 |
6.4 |
3 |
140 |
13 |
632 |
|
8 |
Suresh Raina |
337 |
4 |
27 |
92.8 |
371.5 |
2 |
5.6 |
56 |
110 |
21 |
568 |
|
9 |
Ishant Sharma |
5 |
0 |
0 |
29.4 |
-4.2 |
20 |
1.8 |
377 |
27.5 |
13 |
559 |
|
10 |
Amit Mishra |
9 |
0 |
1 |
128.6 |
12.2 |
18 |
7.7 |
450.5 |
5 |
6 |
524 |
|
11 |
Vinay Kumar |
43 |
2 |
3 |
89.6 |
46 |
10 |
5.4 |
124.5 |
22.5 |
9 |
464 |
|
12 |
Mohammed Shami |
6 |
1 |
0 |
300 |
10.3 |
13 |
18 |
304.8 |
15 |
9 |
428 |
|
13 |
Dinesh Karthik |
255 |
2 |
27 |
70.4 |
208.3 |
0 |
4.2 |
0 |
92.5 |
15 |
301 |
|
14 |
Jaydev Unadkat |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
260 |
25 |
6 |
287 |
|
15 |
Umesh Yadav |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-5 |
11 |
0 |
240 |
30 |
9 |
265 |
|
16 |
Yuvraj Singh |
19 |
2 |
0 |
76 |
17.2 |
2 |
4.6 |
19 |
37.5 |
6 |
136 |
|
17 |
Murali Vijay |
57 |
0 |
7 |
89.1 |
60.7 |
0 |
5.3 |
0 |
10 |
3 |
71 |
|
18 |
Ambati Rayudu |
101 |
0 |
6 |
62 |
66.2 |
0 |
3.7 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
66 |
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 ' ' *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.
Image: George Bailey
Photograph: BCCI
