Peerless Buttler Set To Finish As IPL 2022 MVPI

Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list Rediff.com's 50 Most Valuable Players ahead of Sunday's IPL 2022 final between the Gujarat Titans and the Rajasthan Royals.

We don't have to wait for the final between the Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals to know who is the most valuable player of IPL 2022.

We can declare right now that it is Rajasthan Royals' run machine Jos Buttler!

With a Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) of 868, no other player can even step into his lane.

His nearest challengers are Gujarat Titans' duo of Rashid Khan (MVPI: 604) and Hardik Pandya (566), but they are simply too far away.

Buttler's race is really with Virat Kohli of IPL 2016. Compare this before-final 2016 table with the current 2022 table (below), and Kohli comes off slightly better in every column except the number of sixes.

As analysts we are supposed to be unbiased, but we must be allowed to briefly, and wistfully, marvel at what Kohli once was.

MVPI: Virat Kohli in IPL 2016:

This has again been a remarkable IPL. Let us quickly list this year's top three numbers so far.

• Most runs: Jos Buttler (824, with more likely to come); K L Rahul (616); Quinton de Kock (508)
• Highest score: Quinton de Kock (140); Jos Buttler (116); Rajat Patidar (112)
• Most 6s: Jos Buttler (45); Liam Livingstone (34); Andre Russell (32)
• Most 4s: Jos Buttler (78); David Warner (52); Faf du Plessis (49)
• Highest strike rate (over 150 runs): Tim David (216.3); Dinesh Karthik (183.3); Liam Livingstone (182.1)
• Most wickets: Wanindu Hasaranga (26); Yuzvendra Chahal (26); Kasigo Rabada (23)
• Lowest economy rate (over 160 balls): Sunil Narine (5.6); Mohsin Khan (6.0); Rashid Khan (6.7)
• Most catches or stumpings: Sanju Samson (15); Riyan Parag (13, this is more remarkable); Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock (10)

It is also be interesting to identify the top three players from every country, based on MVPI.

• Australia: Glenn Maxwell (MVPI of 541; overall rank 10); David Warner (458; 16); Josh Hazlewood (403; 32)
• England: Jos Buttler (868; 1); Liam Livingstone (651; 3); Moeen Ali (443; 24)
• India: K L Rahul (604; 5); Hardik Pandya (566; 8); Yuzvendra Chahal (553; 9)
• New Zealand: Trent Boult (347; 48); Tim Southee (294; 63); Devon Conway (262; 73)
• South Africa: Quinton de Kock (575; 7); Kagiso Rabada (480; 13); David Miller (459; 14)
• Sri Lanka: Wanindu Hasaranga (593; 6); Maheesh Theekshana (274; 69); Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dushmantha Chameera (235; 76 and 77)
• West Indies: Andre Russell (682; 2), Sunil Narine (457; 17); Nicolas Pooran and Shimron Hetmyer (357; 45 and 46)
• Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (604; 4)
• Bangladesh: Mustafizur Rehman (191; 93)

The MVPI formula rewards 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. It also rewards more catches (but not runs saved while fielding)

Best Performing Players in IPL 2022 after 73 matches; before the final on May 29, 2022)

• IPL 2022

Feature Presentation: Mahipal Soni/Rediff.com