After his 121 in 115 balls, Yuvraj Singh has overtaken Sachin Tendulkar in the race to be India's most valuable ODI player (MVP) of the current season.
Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly occupy positions 2-5; it is therefore rather surprising to hear that Ganguly was "dropped" for the third game.
We have considered the performances of Indian players in all the 17 ODI matches after the World Cup (one match each against Ireland and Scotland, 2 against Bangladesh, 3 against South Africa, 7 against England and 3 so far against Australia).
Table 1: India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (17 matches):
| Rank | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Bb | Rc | W | Bowl-pts | Ct | St | Run Outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| Yuvraj Singh | 598 | 670 | 660.00 | 373 | 369 | 8 | 114.20 | 5 | 1 | 49 | 17 | 823.20 |
| S Tendulkar | 637 | 798 | 635.60 | 162 | 150 | 3 | 30.00 | 3 | 0.5 | 27 | 14 | 692.60 |
| MS Dhoni | 407 | 542 | 380.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 16|5 | 2 | 178 | 15 | 558.40 |
| Rahul Dravid | 442 | 526 | 463.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 7 | 0.5 | 47 | 17 | 510.20 |
| S Ganguly | 395 | 560 | 342.00 | 185 | 246 | 4 | 107.80 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 12 | 478.80 |
| Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.80 | 538 | 666 | 17 | 402.80 | 8 | 0.5 | 52 | 13 | 467.60 |
| Zaheer Khan | 77 | 100 | 74.00 | 640 | 756 | 14 | 300.80 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 14 | 422.80 |
| G Gambhir | 422 | 561 | 395.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 400.20 |
| RP Singh | 13 | 27 | 4.40 | 432 | 546 | 13 | 316.80 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 11 | 338.20 |
| Ramesh Powar | 46 | 78 | 29.60 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286.00 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 211 | 191.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 11 | 0.5 | 77 | 12 | 268.20 |
| Robin Uthappa | 165 | 158 | 203.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 5 | 242.60 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.60 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.20 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 233.80 |
| Sreesanth | 8 | 37 | -13.60 | 244 | 258 | 11 | 226.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 222.80 |
| Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.40 | 208 | 216 | 6 | 108.80 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 113.40 |
| Irfan Pathan | 4 | 11 | -0.80 | 142 | 168 | 4 | 88.40 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 92.60 |
| Virender Sehwag | 51 | 47 | 64.40 | 46 | 48 | 1 | 16.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 90.80 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.20 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.60 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 23 | 32 | 20.40 | 95 | 120 | 0 | 1.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 21.40 |
| Rohit Sharma | 9 | 13 | 7.60 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1.80 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 19.40 |
| Ishant Sharma | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 38 | 42 | 0 | -4.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4.40 |
Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points) ?= 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.
Table 2 lists the most valuable players so far in the India-Australia list. Michael Clarke heads the combined list, followed by Andrew Symonds and Yuvraj Singh.
Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the India-Australia series (3 matches):
Rank
Player
Runs
Balls
Bat-pts
Rc
Bb
W
Bowl-pts
Ct|St
Run outs
Field-pts
M
Total
1
Michael Clarke
216
241
239.20
35
54
2
56.20
0
0.5
12
3
307.40
2
Andrew Symonds
183
157
240.40
0
0
0
0.00
1
0
5
3
245.40
3
Yuvraj Singh
131
125
162.00
99
96
2
25.80
1
0
5
3
192.80
4
Brad Haddin
156
152
190.40
0
0
0
0.00
0
0
0
2
190.40
5
Mathew Hayden
169
198
179.60
0
0
0
0.00
2
0
10
3
189.60
6
Brad Hogg
0
0
0.00
86
111
6
146.80
1
0.5
17
3
163.80
7
S Sreesanth
8
37
-13.60
180
168
8
146.40
2
0
10
3
142.80
8
James Hopes
52
40
72.00
76
102
2
53.60
0
0
0
3
125.60
9
Mahendra Singh Dhoni
91
125
82.00
0
0
0
0.00
3 | 1
0
25
3
107.00
10
Zaheer Khan
6
18
-2.40
180
180
5
84.00
0
1
24
3
105.60
11
Mitchell Johnson
0
0
0.00
98
120
4
94.00
1
0
5
3
99.00
12
Irfan Pathan
4
11
-0.80
142
168
4
88.40
1
0
5
3
92.60
13
Stuart Clark
0
0
0.00
58
88
3
84.40
0
0
0
3
84.40
14
Brett Lee
2
2
2.40
85
100
3
67.00
1
0
5
3
74.40
15
Robin Uthappa
41
33
55.60
0
0
0
0.00
1
0
5
2
60.60
16
Adam Gilchrist
41
47
44.40
0
0
0
0.00
1 | 1
0
15
3
59.40
17
Sachin Tendulkar
59
102
36.40
44
42
0
-10.40
2
0
10
3
36.00
18
Rahul Dravid
31
52
20.40
0
0
0
0.00
2
0
10
3
30.40
19
Harbhajan Singh
23
32
20.40
95
120
0
1.00
0
0
0
2
21.40
20
Ricky Ponting
25
43
15.60
0
0
0
0.00
0
0
0
1
15.60
21
Gautam Gambhir
17
34
6.80
0
0
0
0.00
0
0
0
3
6.80
22
Sourav Ganguly
0
0
0.00
0
0
0
0.00
0
0
0
1
0.00
23
Rohit Sharma
1
4
-1.20
0
0
0
0.00
0
0
0
1
-1.20
24
Brad Hodge
6
22
-5.60
18
12
0
-8.40
2
0
10
3
-4.00
25
Ramesh Powar
17
18
19.60
80
66
0
-27.20
0
0
0
2
-7.60
26
R P Singh
0
0
0.00
67
60
0
-19.00
0
0
0
1
-19.00
Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points)? = 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.
We will update this list after the India-Australia series ends.
Srinivas Bhogle, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.
