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Who were the most valuable players of the 2007 World Cup?

February 14, 2011 09:24 IST

As we look forward to the 2011 World Cup, Srinivas Bhogle digs out his 2007 data to recall the most valuable players (MVP) of the tournament held in the West Indies four years ago.

The most valuable player index (MVPI) identifies batsmen who score a lot of runs with good strike rates, bowlers who take a lot of wickets with a good economy rate, and fielders who take a lot of catches and participate in run-out dismissals. The MVPI first appeared in these columns back in 2003.

It was a different world four years ago. Rahul Dravid was India's captain, Greg Chappell was India's coach. India and Pakistan were knocked out in the preliminary stage. Poor Bob Woolmer died or was killed. Australia defeated Sri Lanka in a final played in fading light. It was, in many ways, the worst World Cup we've ever had.

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Who were the stars of the 2007 World Cup? Look at the list below of the 50 most valuable players. There were a lot of Australians. And there wasn't a single Indian!

Matthew Hayden scored the most runs (659, at a strike rate of 100), Glen McGrath took the most wickets (26), and Scott Styris and Sanath Jayasuriya excelled as all-rounders with Jacques Kallis not too far behind.

Rank Country Player Runs Balls Ct | St W Run Outs M MVPI
1 Aus Matthew Hayden  659 652 7  

0.5 11 843
2 NZ Scott Styris 499 598 5 9 0.5 10 804
3 SL Sanath Jayasuriya 467 475 3 7 1.5 11 794
4 Aus Adam Gilchrist  453 436 12 | 5  

1 11 691
5 Aus Glenn McGrath  0 0 1 26 1 11 683
6 SA Jacques Kallis 485 578 3 5 0.5 10 676
7 Aus Brad Hogg  45 21 4 21 0 11 662
8 SA Graeme Smith 443 424 8 4 0.5 10 662
9 Aus Ricky Ponting 539 565 7  

0 11 661
10 SL Mahela Jayawardene 548 644 5  

2 11 653
11 SL Muttiah Muralitharan 3 3 5 23 0 10 636
12 Aus Michael Clarke  436 459 5 2 1 11 587
13 Aus Shaun Tait  0 0 1 23 1.5 11 531
14 SA AB De Villiers 372 369 5  

2 10 521
15 Eng Andrew Flintoff  92 140 3 14 2 8 504
16 WI Dwayne Bravo 129 158 5 13 3.5 9 502
17 Eng Kevin Pietersen  444 548 2 0 1.5 9 498
18 NZ Jacob Oram 165 234 5 10 1.5 9 491
19 Aus Nathan Bracken  0 0 2 16 0 10 480
20 Eng Paul Collingwood  276 368 8 6 1.5 9 464
21 SL Lasith Malinga 12 15 2 18 0.5 8 462
22 SL Chaminda Vaas 34 39 3 13 0 10 450
23 NZ Shane Bond 2 4 3 13 0 8 449
24 NZ Daniel Vettori 28 29 2 16 0 10 448
25 SA Herschelle Gibbs 342 373 7  

1 10 444
26 WI Daren Powell 56 52 2 14 0 9 439
27 SL Kumar Sangakkara 350 465 11 | 4  

0.5 11 435
28 SL Tillakaratne Dilshan 217 236 3 5 1 11 423
29 SA Andrew Hall 28 38 2 14 0.5 9 413
30 WI Ramnaresh Sarwan 375 481 1 2 0 9 407
31 SA Shaun Pollock 63 93 2 8 1.5 10 396
32 NZ Stephen Fleming 353 409 2  

0 10 388
33 NZ James Franklin 95 96 2 11 0.5 9 381
34 WI Chris Gayle 228 272 2 5 0 9 371
35 SL Chamara Silva 351 452 6  

0 11 370
36 Ire Trent Johnston 129 144 5 8 1 8 367
37 Aus Shane Watson 145 85 2 4 1 8 348
38 Ban Abdur Razzak  29 54 2 13 0 9 346
39 Eng Paul Nixon 193 194 7 | 2  

2 9 333
40 Ban Mashrafe Mortaza  109 160 1 9 0 9 330
41 Eng Michael Vaughan 209 309 1 4 1.5 9 326
42 WI Brian Lara 269 330 5  

1 9 323
43 SA Mark Boucher 177 129 9 | 0  

1 10 319
44 Ire Kyle McCallan 33 75 0 10 1 9 318
45 NZ Craig McMillan 228 261 0 3 0 10 317
46 SA Andre Nel 9 46 2 12 0 6 313
47 SL Farveez Maharoof 39 36 2 9 1 6 312
48 Aus Andrew Symonds  189 164 3 3 0 9 306
49 Ban Saqibul Hasan  202 353 1 7 0.5 9 296
50 SA Charles Langeveldt 16 57 1 14 0.5 8 295

This list also tells you that four years is a long time in world cricket! Barely 20 of these 50 players will make an appearance in the 2011 World Cup. Hayden, Jayasuriya, McGrath, Flintoff, Pollock, Fleming and even Lara have now all disappeared! Only one player, not in the list above, most remarkably goes on and on!

Srinivas Bhogle