Rabada tops MVP list but Rahul not far behind

Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle list IPL 2020's 50 Most Valuable Players up to Game 34.

K L Rahul has scored 448 runs, but Kagiso Rabada has taken 19 wickets and tops the MVP list.

Two bowlers -- Rabada (MVPI: 428) and Jofra Archer (426) -- are currently IPL 2020's most valuable players, but the two batsmen they have displaced this week -- K L Rahul (426) and Mayank Agarwal (421) -- aren't too far behind.

The IPL has been more a contest between teams than between players. But IPL 2020 seems different.

While three of the eight IPL teams appear to have almost booked their qualifier spots, the MVPI list of the players is all topsy-turvy.

Rahul Tewatia (388) is now fifth -- who could have imagined this?

Two top South African batsmen -- Faf du Plessis (386) and A B de Villiers (383) -- who bat so differently, are sixth and seventh.

Shikhar Dhawan (358) has stormed in the top ten. He hasn't just helped Delhi Capitals' scause; he's helped his campaign to hold his India T20 place too!

Recall that the Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI), which collapses a player's batting, bowling and fielding performance into a 'run equivalent', rewards batsmen who score a lot of runs, and quickly; bowlers who take a lot of wickets, and with good economy rates, and outstanding fielding.

The table also lists the Paisa Vasool Index (PVI), which measures a player's value by the amount of $ they pay the player for every MVPI point 'gained ('run equivalent' contributed), of the 50 best performing players.

The lower the PVI, the greater bang the player offers for the buck.

IPL 2020: Best Performing Players so far (after Game 34 ending October 17, 2020)

• IPL 2020
• POINTS TABLE
• IPL 2020: TURNING POINTS
• IPL 2020: STAR PERFORMERS