Who will be MVP of IPL 8? Russell or Warner?

Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle analyse which players are giving value for money in the IPL 8.

IPL 8 is past the half-way mark, and Andre Russell of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is emerging as the player offering the best performance at the lowest cost.

To measure ‘performance’, we use our most valuable player index that collapses a player’s batting, bowling and fielding performances into a one-dimensional ‘run equivalent’. Russell’s MVPI of 511 indicates that he has contributed the most ‘runs’ so far in IPL.

The captains of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) are just a little behind; David Warner has contributed 507 ‘runs’ while Jean-Paul Duminy has contributed 497 ‘runs’.

The analysis gets much more interesting when we bring in the player’s price; i.e., ask how much does the player earn for every ‘run’ that he contributes. By this measure – that we call the paisa vasool index (PVI) – Andre Russell’s value grows manifold. Bought at a value of about $100,000, every ‘run’ that Russell contributes costs KKR only $154, or Rs 9226. In contrast, the more expensive David Warner has to be paid $1291 for every ‘run’ scored!

The table below lists the details of the top 99 players ranked in terms of their MVPI. It is interesting to look at their PVI as well. A highly paid player like Rohit Sharma – although playing well – costs Mumbai Indians (MI) $3758, or about RS 2.25 lakhs for every run scored. And if you consider Yuvraj Singh, DD is paying him a staggering Rs 6 lakhs for every ‘run’ scored.

Is it therefore any surprise that everyone wants to play the IPL?