Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji list the Most Valuable Players of the India-New Zealand ODI series.
India's 3-0 loss to New Zealand was most unexpected, but, on hindsight, it is easy to guess what went wrong.
First, India bowled rather poorly (Jasprit Bumrah didn't get a single wicket!), and didn't field too well either.
Second, India were without their regular openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli appeared somewhat listless.
K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer batted very well (which was reassuring) but that wasn't enough.
Third, and this is the most worrying, India seemed to think that it wasn't an 'important' year for ODIs.
So, there was some unnecessary experimentation.
Shardul Thakur was given too many chances (and didn't help his cause), Mohammed Shami didn't need that rest (he takes a while to get fully charged up) and Rishabh Pant must surely be considered a far more promising batting prospect (even if his wicket-keeping has taken a bit of a dive) than Kedar Jadhav (especially if he isn't asked to bowl).
It was almost as if India didn't want that ODI series in a T20 World Cup year, and before a test series where success could fetch immense adulation and as many as 120 test match points.
But Rahul (MVPI: 276) used the series to establish that he's indisputably India's third best batsman, and Shreyas Iyer (MVPI: 262) offered cause for bewilderment as you wonder why India didn't find its No 4 when you needed him most in 2019.
For New Zealand, Ross Taylor (246) made amends for his poor display in the T20 series, Martin Guptill (216) again posed the question about why he's so good playing at home, and so much poorer away, and Kyle Jamieson announced himself to be an exciting prospect.
However Tim Southee (58) and Mitchell Santner (10) appear to be real worries.
Recall that the Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) collapses the player's batting, bowling and fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'.
Most Valuable Players of the India-New Zealand series
| Rank | Player | Runs | Top Score | 4s | 6s | Strike Rate | Wickets | Economy rate | Games | MVPI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lokesh Rahul | 204 | 112 | 12 | 8 | 110.3 | 0 | - | 3 | 276 |
| 2 | Shreyas Iyer | 217 | 103 | 27 | 2 | 95.6 | 0 | - | 3 | 262 |
| 3 | Ross Taylor | 194 | 109 | 17 | 6 | 110.2 | 0 | - | 3 | 246 |
| 4 | Martin Guptill | 177 | 79 | 15 | 7 | 106.6 | 0 | - | 3 | 216 |
| 5 | Henry Nicholls | 199 | 80 | 25 | 0 | 81.6 | 0 | - | 3 | 200 |
| 6 | Colin de Grandhomme | 64 | 58 | 7 | 3 | 168.4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 199 |
| 7 | Tom Latham | 108 | 69 | 11 | 2 | 112.5 | 0 | - | 3 | 171 |
| 8 | Yuzvendra Chahal | 10 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 83.3 | 6 | 5.3 | 2 | 160 |
| 9 | Ravindra Jadeja | 63 | 55 | 3 | 1 | 78.8 | 2 | 4.8 | 3 | 140 |
| 10 | Kyle Jamieson | 25 | 25 | 1 | 2 | 104.2 | 3 | 4.8 | 2 | 120 |
| 11 | Kane Willamson | 91 | 69 | 10 | 2 | 115.2 | 0 | - | 2 | 116 |
| 12 | Virat Kohli | 75 | 51 | 7 | 1 | 75 | 0 | - | 3 | 114 |
| 13 | Prithvi Shaw | 84 | 40 | 12 | 2 | 102.4 | 0 | - | 3 | 100 |
| 14 | Hamish Bennet | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 6 | 6.9 | 3 | 96 |
| 15 | James Neesham | 31 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 70.5 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 61 |
| 16 | Shardul Thakur | 25 | 18 | 4 | 0 | 119 | 4 | 8.1 | 3 | 59 |
| 17 | Tim Southee | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 4 | 6.4 | 3 | 58 |
| 18 | Kedar Jadhav | 35 | 26 | 4 | 1 | 83.3 | 0 | - | 2 | 45 |
| 19 | Mayank Agarwal | 36 | 32 | 6 | 0 | 92.3 | 0 | - | 3 | 45 |
| 20 | Manish Pandey | 42 | 42 | 2 | 0 | 87.5 | 0 | - | 1 | 44 |
| 21 | Navdeep Saini | 53 | 45 | 7 | 2 | 96.4 | 0 | 6.4 | 2 | 44 |
| 22 | Tom Blundell | 31 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 88.6 | 0 | - | 2 | 38 |
| 23 | Ish Sodhi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 6.8 | 1 | 18 |
| 24 | Kuldeep Yadav | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 2 | 8.4 | 1 | 16 |
| 25 | Mohammed Shami | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 6.9 | 1 | 13 |
| 26 | Mitchell Santner | 12 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 133.3 | 0 | 5.9 | 2 | 10 |
| 27 | Jasprit Bumrah | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.6 | 3 | -18 |
Most Valuable Player Index=Sum of batting, bowling and fielding points. *Run outs are counted as 1 (wicket) for a direct hit, and 0.5 (wicket) if the fielder is an equal participant in a run out dismissal.
