IPL 2022: IPL 2022: Most Valuable Player: No Stopping Buttler!

Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle pick the 50 Most Valuable Players in IPL 2022 after Game 55.

IMAGE: Rajasthan Royals opener Jos Buttler is the leading run-getter in IPL 2022, with 618 runs from 11 games, with three centuries and as many fifties. Photograph: BCCI

IPL 2022 is going on and on. With eight teams, the IPL league phase would have almost ended by now, but with the inclusion of two new teams this season, we still have 15 league matches to go, and many of these matches are likely to be of little consequence.

Jos Buttler too is going on and on, with a top MVPI of 651. Although the MVPI is constructed to be a 'runs equivalent' of batting, bowling and fielding performance, the England run machine is up there almost entirely due to his magical batting (618 runs so far).

Andre Russell (MVPI: 534) is also proving to be a super-performer (and, surprisingly, still super-fit!), although that's unlikely to help KKR's cause because most of his team-mates aren't performing. The only other KKR players in the top 50 are: Umesh Yadav (at 8th place with an MVPI of 416), Sunil Narine (13; 380) and Shreyas Iyer (25; 336).

It is curious that KKR has both the Australia captains -- Pat Cummins (Test) and Aaron Finch (ODIs and T20Is) -- but neither is being impactful.

This has indeed been a strange IPL with many established players failing to perform. Here's a list of players who were most certainly expected to be in the top 50, but aren't: Ravindra Jadeja (placed 52nd; MVPI of 252), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (70; 206), Mayank Agarwal (77; 186), Rohit Sharma (78; 185), Kieron Pollard (80; 182), Virat Kohli (83; 173), Jasprit Bumrah (99; 125), Kane Williamson (104; 120) and Aaron Finch (117; 85).

Among the top 50, players with a Paisa Vasool Index below 600 (cost the franchise less than $600 for every 'run' contributed) include Abhishek Sharma (SRH; 199), David Miller (GT; 245), Mahesh Theekshana (CSK; 267), Tilak Varma (MI; 467), Umesh Yadav (KKR; 504) and Kuldeep Yadav (DC; 572).

This analysis is based on the first 55 matches of the current IPL, and updated on the morning of May 9, 2022. We have assumed the par score to be 180 and every wicket to be worth 18 'runs'.

Rank	Player	Team	From	Runs	Top Score	4s	6s	Strike Rate	Wickets	Economy Rate	Game	MVPI	PVI(US$)
1	Jos Buttler	RR	ENG	618	116	55	37	152.2	0	-	11	651	1609
2	Andre Russell	KKR	WI	272	70	15	27	183.8	12	10.1	11	534	2354
3	Yuzvendra Chahal	RR	IND	5	5	0	0	62.5	22	7.3	11	489	1393
4	K L Rahul	LSG	IND	451	103	38	20	145	0	-	11	473	3765
5	Wanindu Hasaranga	RCB	SL	37	18	4	1	94.9	21	7.9	12	463	2654
6	Hardik Pandya	GT	IND	333	87	36	8	134.3	4	7.6	10	437	3596
7	Liam Livingstone	PBKS	ENG	315	64	22	25	184.2	3	10	11	433	2782
8	Umesh Yadav	KKR	IND	55	21	4	4	141	15	7.2	10	416	504
9	Sanju Samson	RR	IND	321	55	26	21	155.8	0	-	11	409	3586
10	David Warner	DC	AUS	375	92	46	14	156.9	0	-	9	404	1621
11	Rashid Khan	GT	AFG	72	40	2	7	189.5	11	6.8	11	400	3929
12	Krunal Pandya	LSG	IND	153	42	14	3	131.9	9	6.6	11	393	2199
13	Sunil Narine	KKR	WI	49	22	6	3	163.3	8	5.2	11	380	1654
14	Dinesh Karthik	RCB	IND	274	66	21	21	200	0	-	12	380	1654
15	Kuldeep Yadav	DC	IND	45	16	3	2	91.8	18	8.9	11	366	572
16	Kagiso Rabada	PBKS	SA	42	25	5	1	105	18	8.7	10	366	2648
17	Quinton de Kock	LSG	SA	344	80	36	11	138.7	0	-	11	366	1932
18	Rahul Tripathi	SRH	IND	308	71	29	16	164.7	0	-	11	356	2501
19	Faf du Plessis	RCB	SA	389	96	39	13	132.8	0	-	12	351	2279
20	Shimron Hetmyer	RR	WI	291	59	18	21	166.3	0	-	11	350	2544
21	Glenn Maxwell	RCB	AUS	193	55	22	9	167.8	4	6.9	9	348	3612
22	Tilak Varma	MI	IND	328	61	22	15	136.7	0	6.5	10	347	467
23	Aiden Markram	SRH	SA	326	68	23	16	143	1	10.7	11	342	796
24	Rishabh Pant	DC	IND	281	44	31	12	152.7	0	-	11	340	4930
25	Shreyas Iyer	KKR	IND	330	85	34	8	131	0	7	11	336	3819
26	R Ashwin	RR	IND	83	28	7	4	145.6	9	7.2	11	335	2377
27	Harshal Patel	RCB	IND	31	10	2	2	103.3	14	7.6	11	333	3689
28	Shubman Gill	GT	IND	321	96	33	9	139	0	-	11	332	2524
29	T Natarajan	SRH	IND	0	0	0	0	-	17	8.7	9	331	1266
30	Khaleel Ahmed	DC	IND	0	0	0	0	0	16	7.8	8	325	1692
31	David Miller	GT	SA	306	94	24	13	145	0	-	11	321	245
32	Nicholas Pooran	SRH	WI	261	64	14	18	147.5	0	-	11	320	1375
33	Dwayne Bravo	CSK	WI	11	8	1	0	122.2	16	8.8	9	317	1454
34	Mohammed Shami	GT	IND	0	0	0	0	-	15	8.3	11	314	2085
35	Shikhar Dhawan	PBKS	IND	381	88	40	9	122.1	0	-	11	314	2753
36	Deepak Hooda	LSG	IND	320	55	27	12	133.9	1	10.8	11	313	1925
37	Axar Patel	DC	IND	146	42	10	8	162.2	4	7.5	10	307	3071
38	Suryakumar Yadav	MI	IND	303	68	23	16	145.7	0	-	8	306	2490
39	Rahul Chahar	PBKS	IND	50	22	5	3	119	12	7.9	11	305	1803
40	Jason Holder	LSG	WI	56	16	2	6	143.6	12	9.3	9	303	3025
41	Shivam Dube	CSK	IND	279	95	21	16	160.3	0	18	9	295	1421
42	Avesh Khan	LSG	IND	9	7	0	2	128.6	14	8.1	9	292	3588
43	Josh Hazlewood	RCB	AUS	10	7	0	0	50	13	6.8	8	291	3044
44	Abhishek Sharma	SRH	IND	331	75	37	9	132.4	0	9.3	11	290	199
45	Prithvi Shaw	DC	IND	259	61	35	9	159.9	0	-	9	287	2738
46	Umran Malik	SRH	IND	1	1	0	0	50	15	9.1	11	285	1470
47	Ruturaj Gaikwad	CSK	IND	306	99	28	13	133	0	-	11	283	2221
48	Prasidh Krishna	RR	IND	6	4	0	0	50	13	8.3	11	276	3796
49	Maheesh Theekshana	CSK	SL	7	7	0	1	175	12	7.4	8	275	267
50	Bhuvneshwar Kumar	SRH	IND	17	8	2	0	94.4	10	7.3	11	267	3335