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IPL's Most Valuable Player: Gayle continues to rule the roost
Even though RCB's fortunes are declining, Chris Gayle continues (MVP of 821) to be IPL6's most valuable player after 64 matches. However, the big-hitting West Indian faces a stiff challenge from Shane Watson (722) especially if RCB fail to qualify.
The most valuable player index (MVPI) collapses a player's batting, bowling and fielding performances into a one-dimensional 'run equivalent'. For example, Dwayne Bravo's MVPI of 530 indicates that his batting, bowling and fielding performance is equivalent to scoring 530 'runs'. In fact Bravo, who has been taking a lot of wickets, could have been up at the top if he had more batting opportunities.
Recall that the best MVPI scores are obtained if a player scores a lot of runs at a high strike rate, takes a lot of wickets at a low economy rate or is responsible for the most number of catches and stumpings. The higher the MVPI, the better is the player's performance.
A look at the MVPI list shows the other usual suspects at the top: Shane Watson and Mike Hussey from Australia; Gayle, Narine and Bravo from West Indies; and Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, M S Dhoni and Rohit Sharma from India.
A very poor IPL for Sri Lankans
It has been a very poor IPL for Sri Lankans, with just Thisara Perera in the top ten. Lasith Malinga is doing reasonably well but is not the lethal force he used to be. Mahela Jayawardene is at the 56th place (MVP of 244) and Sangakkara and Dilshan are practically invisible.
The South Africans too have been subdued, although AB de Villiers has had his moments and Dale Steyn remains awesome.
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| Player's Name | Team | From | Run | Strike Rate | W | Eco | M | MVPI | Money Offered (US $) | PVI |
| 1 | Chris Gayle | RCB | WI | 680 | 154.5 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 821 | 550000 | 628 |
| 2 | Shane Watson | RR | AUS | 483 | 150.5 | 8 | 6.6 | 12 | 722 | 1300000 | 1575 |
| 3 | Virat Kohli | RCB | IND | 578 | 135.0 | 0 | - | 15 | 653 | 1800000 | 2584 |
| 4 | Michael Hussey | CSK | AUS | 640 | 127.7 | 0 | - | 14 | 652 | 425000 | 611 |
| 5 | Suresh Raina | CSK | IND | 466 | 145.2 | 1 | 11.5 | 15 | 585 | 1300000 | 2083 |
| 6 | MS Dhoni | CSK | IND | 374 | 164.0 | 0 | - | 15 | 544 | 1800000 | 3102 |
| 7 | Rohit Sharma | MI | IND | 487 | 140.3 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 538 | 2000000 | 3253 |
| 8 | Sunil Narine | KKR | WI | 20 | 117.6 | 22 | 5.6 | 14 | 536 | 700000 | 1143 |
| 9 | Dwayne Bravo | CSK | WI | 95 | 117.3 | 24 | 7.9 | 15 | 530 | 200000 | 354 |
| 10 | Thisara Perera | SRH | SL | 201 | 150.0 | 16 | 8.2 | 13 | 511 | 675000 | 1156 |
| 11 | Jacques Kallis | KKR | SA | 286 | 100.0 | 15 | 6.9 | 14 | 502 | 1100000 | 1917 |
| 12 | Dinesh Karthik | MI | IND | 435 | 133.4 | 0 | - | 14 | 487 | 900000 | 1617 |
| 13 | Vinay Kumar | RCB | IND | 70 | 159.1 | 22 | 8.2 | 15 | 476 | 1000000 | 1970 |
| 14 | AB de Villiers | RCB | SA | 355 | 164.4 | 0 | - | 13 | 470 | 1100000 | 2194 |
| 15 | Harbhajan Singh | MI | IND | 76 | 158.3 | 17 | 6.5 | 14 | 465 | 1300000 | 2446 |
| 16 | David Miller | KXI | SA | 368 | 163.6 | 0 | - | 10 | 460 | 100000 | 190 |
| 17 | Ravindra Jadeja | CSK | IND | 194 | 150.4 | 10 | 7.3 | 15 | 444 | 2000000 | 4223 |
| 18 | David Warner | DD | AUS | 408 | 128.7 | 0 | - | 14 | 429 | 750000 | 1530 |
| 19 | Dale Steyn | SRH | SA | 49 | 148.5 | 14 | 5.7 | 14 | 429 | 1200000 | 2448 |
| 20 | Mitchell Johnson | MI | AUS | 30 | 150.0 | 20 | 7.2 | 13 | 423 | 300000 | 621 |
| 21 | James Faulkner | RR | AUS | 28 | 93.3 | 19 | 6.7 | 12 | 418 | 400000 | 837 |
| 22 | Kieron Pollard | MI | WI | 286 | 149.0 | 5 | 9.6 | 13 | 398 | 900000 | 1979 |
| 23 | Ajinkya Rahane | RR | IND | 433 | 111.9 | 1 | - | 14 | 394 | 44000 | 98 |
| 24 | Amit Mishra | SRH | IND | 89 | 92.7 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 384 | 300000 | 684 |
| 25 | Stuart Binny | RR | IND | 219 | 157.6 | 5 | 6.5 | 13 | 376 | 66000 | 154 |
| 26 | Robin Uthappa | PWI | IND | 385 | 116.7 | 0 | - | 14 | 366 | 2100000 | 5020 |
| 27 | Gautam Gambhir | KKR | IND | 384 | 124.3 | 0 | - | 14 | 364 | 2400000 | 5769 |
| 28 | Aaron Finch | PWI | AUS | 356 | 131.9 | 1 | 12.3 | 12 | 359 | 300000 | 731 |
| 29 | R Ashwin | CSK | IND | 26 | 83.9 | 15 | 6.5 | 15 | 353 | 850000 | 2257 |
| 30 | Rahul Dravid | RR | IND | 387 | 110.9 | 0 | - | 14 | 345 | 500000 | 1268 |
| 31 | Mohit Sharma | CSK | IND | 0 | 0.0 | 16 | 6 | 12 | 342 | 22000 | 60 |
| 32 | Eoin Morgan | KKR | ENG | 298 | 129.0 | 0 | - | 13 | 328 | 350000 | 934 |
| 33 | Azhar Mahmood | KXI | PAK | 107 | 110.3 | 13 | 7.4 | 9 | 317 | 200000 | 552 |
| 34 | Yuvraj Singh | PWI | IND | 205 | 125.8 | 6 | 6.5 | 11 | 317 | 1800000 | 4968 |
| 35 | Sachin Tendulkar | MI | IND | 287 | 124.2 | 0 | - | 14 | 298 | 1800000 | 5285 |
| 36 | Lasith Malinga | MI | SL | 7 | 58.3 | 13 | 6.3 | 12 | 293 | 500000 | 1493 |
| 37 | Pragyan Ojha | MI | IND | 1 | 100.0 | 14 | 6.8 | 12 | 290 | 500000 | 1509 |
| 38 | Adam Gilchrist | KXI | AUS | 247 | 126.0 | 0 | - | 11 | 285 | 900000 | 2763 |
| 39 | Rajat Bhatia | KKR | IND | 89 | 125.4 | 11 | 7.5 | 14 | 280 | 66000 | 206 |
| 40 | Ravi Rampaul | RCB | IND | 38 | 102.7 | 12 | 6.8 | 9 | 279 | 290000 | 974 |
| 41 | Yusuf Pathan | KKR | IND | 211 | 126.3 | 1 | 8.8 | 14 | 279 | 2100000 | 6586 |
| 42 | Umesh Yadav | DD | IND | 30 | 103.4 | 15 | 8.4 | 14 | 278 | 750000 | 2361 |
| 43 | B Kumar | PWI | IND | 52 | 73.2 | 12 | 6.6 | 14 | 278 | 44000 | 138 |
| 44 | Ishant Sharma | SRH | IND | 0 | - | 14 | 7.8 | 14 | 272 | 450000 | 1448 |
| 45 | Praveen Kumar | KXI | IND | 47 | 123.7 | 10 | 6.9 | 13 | 271 | 800000 | 2583 |
| 46 | Irfan Pathan | DD | IND | 117 | 100.0 | 8 | 7.4 | 13 | 265 | 1900000 | 6274 |
| 47 | Manvinder Bisla | KKR | IND | 239 | 111.7 | 0 | - | 12 | 265 | 66000 | 218 |
| 48 | Kevon Cooper | RR | WI | 2 | 50.0 | 16 | 8.3 | 10 | 261 | 50000 | 168 |
| 49 | Moises Henriques | RCB | AUS | 153 | 125.4 | 7 | 8.7 | 9 | 260 | 300000 | 1082 |
| 50 | Mandeep Singh | KXI | IND | 259 | 118.8 | 0 | - | 14 | 259 | 22000 | 74 |
| 51 | Parthiv Patel | SRH | IND | 244 | 116.7 | 0 | - | 10 | 257 | 650000 | 2213 |
| 52 | Sanju Samson | RR | IND | 187 | 129.9 | 0 | - | 7 | 254 | 22000 | 76 |
| 53 | Mitchell Marsh | PWI | AUS | 140 | 132.1 | 7 | 9.4 | 9 | 251 | 290000 | 1011 |
| 54 | Dwayne Smith | MI | WI | 284 | 107.2 | 2 | 11.8 | 10 | 248 | 100000 | 353 |
| 55 | Virender Sehwag | DD | IND | 254 | 126.4 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 247 | 1800000 | 6377 |
| 56 | M Jayawardene | DD | SL | 278 | 107.8 | 0 | - | 13 | 244 | 1400000 | 5020 |
| 56 | Jaydev Unadkat | RCB | IND | 2 | 100.0 | 13 | 7.5 | 12 | 239 | 525000 | 2059 |
| 57 | Shikhar Dhawan | SRH | IND | 235 | 133.5 | 0 | - | 7 | 239 | 300000 | 1098 |
| 58 | RP Singh | RCB | IND | 0 | - | 13 | 8.1 | 10 | 235 | 400000 | 1596 |
Foreign players offer higher value than Indian players
We also define a second index with a rather colourful name: Paisa Vasool index (PVI).
To obtain a player's PVI we divide his total money offered by his MVPI. So the PVI estimates how many dollars the franchise owner pays the player for every 'run' scored. The lower the PVI, the greater the value offered by the player.
The PVI column (last column of table) highlights something that we already know ... that foreign players, who can be bought cheaper, offer significantly higher value than Indian players.
Look at Miller, Smith, Bravo, Johnson, Finch, Faulkner, Morgan and others (we're sure that Gayle's actual price is much higher than $550,000!), and contrast that with how expensive Sehwag, Uthappa, Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and the Pathan brothers have proved to be this year (again, Sachin Tendulkar's ability to bring in crowds and TV viewership puts him in a different class).
We hear that there might be a tenth IPL team in 2014. This will skew the India-foreign player price ratio further ... because there will be even greater demand for the 20-25 top Indian players and that will push their prices further up.
We do think it is time to allow 5 foreign players in the playing eleven ... perhaps by reviving the concept of substitute players.