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Can Hardik oust Russell as Most Valuable Player?

May 01, 2019 08:46 IST

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji identify the Most Valuable Players in the IPL so far.

Hardik Pandya

IMAGE: Hardik Pandya, who has been consistent this IPL season. Photographs: BCCI

It is very likely that Andre Russell will be the most valuable player of IPL 12, even if KKR don't make the play-offs.

With a Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) of 812 so far, it's unlikely anyone can surpass Russell -- especially because he is now also taking wickets and some stunning catches.

The Most Valuable Player Index tries to encapsulate the cricketers' performances in terms of a 'run equivalent'.

David Warner

IMAGE: David Warner is the leading run scorer in IPL-12 with 692 runs.

David Warner (MVPI: 751) was at hand-shaking distance, but he has now left the IPL to join Australia's campaign to defend the World Cup.

Russell's only possible challenger is Hardik Pandya (MVP: 621), especially if MI end up #3 or #4, because that will give Pandya four games to catch up.

 

Andre Russell

IMAGE: KKR's Andre Russell during the game against CSK.

Also take a look at the last column which lists the paisa vasool (or player value) index.

PVI measures how many US dollars the player gets for every 'run equivalent' he contributes.

Low PVI values are great for franchise owners because they get more performance for less money.

A PVI below 500 is a complete steal, a PVI below 1000 is excellent, a PVI below 1500 is very good, and a PVI below 2000 is good.

Top Indian players (and a few fancied and fortunate foreign players) have high PVI values even if they play well because they are so frightfully expensive.

Jaydev Unadkat

IMAGE: Jaydev Unadkat celebrates taking Shakib Al Hasan's wicket. Photograph: Courtesy BCCI

PVI can also be seen as an indicator of how poorly a franchise chooses a player.

Just as an example, RR pays Jaydev Unadkat well over $20,000 for every 'run equivalent' he contributes.

Best performing players so far at IPL 12 (after Match 48 ending April 29, 2019)

RankPlayer's NameTeamFromRunTop Score4s6sStrike RateWicketsEconomy RateGamesMVPIPVI($)
1 Andre Russell KKR WI 486 80 29 50 207.7 10 9 12 812 1282
2 David Warner SRH AUS 692 100 57 21 143.9 0 - 12 751 2038
3 Hardik Pandya MI IND 355 91 25 27 198.3 10 9.7 12 621 2169
4 Jonny Bairstow SRH ENG 445 114 48 18 157.2 0 - 10 573 470
5 KL Rahul KXI IND 520 100 42 20 131.6 0 - 12 549 2453
6 Chris Gayle KXI WI 448 99 41 32 161.7 0 - 11 527 465
7 AB de Villiers RCB SA 431 82 29 26 153.4 0 - 11 511 2636
8 Shikhar Dhawan DC IND 451 97 55 10 137.1 0 - 12 495 1286
9 Kagiso Rabada DC WI 14 9 0 1 93.3 25 7.8 12 493 124
10 Rishabh Pant DC IND 343 78 30 16 157.3 0 - 12 480 3827
11 Virat Kohli RCB IND 423 100 43 9 134.7 0 - 12 451 4616
12 Quinton de Kock MI SA 393 81 36 16 136.5 0 - 12 450 762
13 Parthiv Patel RCB IND 365 67 47 10 140.4 0 - 12 439 474
14 Ajinkya Rahane RR IND 391 105 45 9 139.1 0 - 12 427 1147
15 Moeen Ali RCB ENG 220 66 16 17 165.4 6 6.8 11 402 518
16 Shreyas Iyer DC IND 383 67 35 11 120.4 0 - 12 386 2221
17 Jos Buttler RR ENG 311 89 38 14 151.7 0 - 8 381 1414
18 R Ashwin KXI IND 42 17 3 3 168 14 7.2 12 376 2475
19 Nitish Rana KKR IND 318 85 27 18 143.2 2 9.1 12 376 1107
20 MS Dhoni CSK IND 314 84 17 17 137.1 0 - 10 375 4898
21 Rashid Khan SRH AFG 33 17 2 2 165 14 6.2 12 370 2978
22 Sanju Samson RR IND 309 102 26 10 147.8 0 - 10 355 2759
23 Shreyas Gopal RR IND 51 19 8 1 182.1 15 7.3 12 355 69
24 Imran Tahir CSK SA 0 0 0 0 - 17 6.5 12 353 347
25 Mayank Agarwal KXI IND 289 58 23 13 143.1 0 - 11 341 359
26 Jofra Archer RR WI 67 27 4 4 167.5 11 6.8 11 338 2608
27 Sunil Narine KKR WI 143 47 17 9 166.3 10 7.8 10 337 4542
28 Rohit Sharma MI IND 307 67 37 9 131.8 0 - 11 331 5549
29 Chris Lynn KKR AUS 318 82 34 15 133.1 0 - 11 317 3708
30 Kieron Pollard MI WI 228 83 11 18 158.3 0 - 12 304 2175
31 Krunal Pandya MI IND 167 42 18 4 120.1 8 7.7 12 302 3568
32 JaspritBumrah MI IND 0 0 0 0 0 13 6.6 12 294 2915
33 Prithvi Shaw DC IND 280 99 36 7 135.3 0 - 12 292 503
34 SuryakumarYadav MI IND 269 59 26 7 128.7 0 - 12 291 1347
35 Axar Patel DC IND 97 26 9 3 140.6 8 7.1 10 288 2126
36 Ravindra Jadeja CSK IND 76 31 5 2 104.1 9 6.6 11 286 2997
37 Dinesh Karthik KKR IND 229 97 20 13 147.7 0 - 12 283 3202
38 Steven Smith RR WI 319 73 30 4 116 0 - 11 279 5486
39 Deepak Chahar CSK IND 7 7 1 0 77.8 15 7.3 12 276 355
40 Shane Watson CSK AUS 251 96 28 12 133.5 0 - 12 267 1834
41 Manish Pandey SRH IND 234 83 22 4 139.3 0 - 9 264 5102
42 Yuzvendra Chahal RCB IND 6 4 0 0 37.5 16 8 12 257 2859
43 Suresh Raina CSK IND 247 58 31 6 120.5 0 6 12 247 5453
44 Marcus Stoinis RCB AUS 211 46 14 10 136.1 2 8.7 9 244 3111
45 Vijay Shankar SRH IND 180 40 9 7 122.4 1 7.7 12 238 1646
46 Shubman Gill KKR IND 222 76 16 8 128.3 0 - 12 237 930
47 David Miller KXI SA 213 59 19 7 129.9 0 - 10 235 1563
48 MohdShami KXI IND 1 1 0 0 50 16 9.1 12 226 2601
49 Mohammad Nabi SRH AFG 60 20 2 4 150 7 6.1 5 222 552
50 Robin Uthappa KKR IND 220 67 25 6 119.6 0 - 10 215 3645

PURNENDU MAJI, SRINIVAS BHOGLE