As the long and arduous Commonwealth Bank Series nears its end, Nathan Bracken [Images] leads the list of the most valuable players (MVP). Bracken has taken the largest number of wickets, and at an excellent economy rate.
Gautam Gambhir [Images] is India's highest ranked player on the list, and could well have been at the top if he hadn't been needlessly run out in the first final at Sydney.
Australia's James Hopes is surprisingly fourth in the list with a consistent all-round display.
The most likely winner of the MVP crown, and the overwhelming favourite for the "man of the series" award, is however Adam Gilchrist [Images]. A look at Table 1 indicates that Gilchrist and Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] have very similar totals; only Gilchrist has scored his runs at a much faster rate.
Table 1: The most valuable players in the Commonwealth Bank series (13 matches so far)
Rank | Player | Country | Runs | Balls | batpts | Rc | Bb | W | bwlpts | Ct|St | Run Outs | fldpts | M | Total |
1 | Nathan Bracken | Aus | 16 | 43 | -2.4 | 316 | 461 | 18 | 484.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 487 |
2 | Adam Gilchrist | Aus | 320 | 325 | 380 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16|2 | 0 | 100 | 9 | 480 |
3 | Gautam Gambhir | Ind | 425 | 516 | 437.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 442 |
4 | James Hopes | Aus | 130 | 162 | 130.4 | 198 | 335 | 8 | 262 | 2 | 1.5 | 46 | 8 | 438 |
5 | Brett Lee [Images] | Aus | 66 | 112 | 42.4 | 298 | 370 | 15 | 358 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 7 | 422 |
6 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | Ind | 311 | 432 | 276.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16|2 | 1 | 124 | 9 | 400 |
7 | KC Sangakkara | SL | 326 | 447 | 294.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6|2 | 1 | 74 | 8 | 368 |
8 | Mitchel Johnson | Aus | 27 | 47 | 16.4 | 278 | 426 | 11 | 326.8 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 8 | 360 |
9 | Ishant Sharma | Ind | 5 | 17 | -3.6 | 285 | 373 | 14 | 349.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 356 |
10 | Sachin Tendulkar [Images] | Ind | 308 | 347 | 338.4 | 21 | 24 | 0 | -1.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 347 |
11 | Harbhajan Singh [Images] | Ind | 54 | 42 | 74.4 | 233 | 331 | 7 | 199.8 | 1 | 2.5 | 65 | 9 | 339 |
12 | Brad Hogg [Images] | Aus | 85 | 132 | 64.4 | 236 | 327 | 8 | 217.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 282 |
13 | Rohit Sharma | Ind | 233 | 306 | 221.2 | 5 | 6 | 0 | -0.2 | 5 | 1.5 | 61 | 9 | 282 |
14 | Irfan Pathan [Images] | Ind | 106 | 162 | 82.4 | 323 | 360 | 9 | 181 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 9 | 280 |
15 | Michael Clarke [Images] | Aus | 297 | 424 | 254.8 | 78 | 96 | 0 | -1.2 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 9 | 269 |
16 | SL Malinga | SL | 19 | 65 | -14 | 368 | 430 | 12 | 264 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 8 | 267 |
17 | Mathew Hayden | Aus | 243 | 320 | 230 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 7 | 264 |
18 | M Muralitharan | SL | 25 | 43 | 15.6 | 353 | 440 | 9 | 215 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 246 |
19 | MKDI Amerasinghe | SL | 16 | 20 | 16 | 276 | 342 | 9 | 213.6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 235 |
20 | Michael Hussey | Aus | 234 | 350 | 188 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.5 | 42 | 9 | 230 |
21 | TM Dilshan | SL | 159 | 169 | 182.8 | 19 | 12 | 0 | -9.4 | 4 | 1.5 | 56 | 7 | 229 |
22 | DPMD Jayawardene | SL | 214 | 297 | 190.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 35 | 8 | 225 |
23 | Ricky Ponting [Images] | Aus | 190 | 261 | 171.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 9 | 215 |
24 | Stuart Clark | Aus | 31 | 41 | 29.2 | 119 | 216 | 5 | 173.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 208 |
25 | Yuvraj Singh [Images] | Ind | 164 | 201 | 167.2 | 105 | 138 | 1 | 29.4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 202 |
26 | Praveen Kumar | Ind | 6 | 8 | 5.6 | 129 | 180 | 6 | 159 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 3 | 199 |
27 | Andrew Symonds [Images] | Aus | 132 | 170 | 128 | 32 | 35 | 0 | -4 | 4 | 1 | 44 | 9 | 168 |
28 | WPUJC Vaas | SL | 19 | 39 | 6.8 | 270 | 372 | 5 | 147.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 154 |
29 | ST Jayasuriya | SL | 103 | 116 | 113.2 | 42 | 37 | 1 | 11.6 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 8 | 154 |
30 | S Sreesanth [Images] | Ind | 8 | 11 | 7.2 | 189 | 188 | 7 | 129.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 137 |
31 | KMDN Kulasekara | SL | 14 | 29 | 4.8 | 129 | 156 | 5 | 115.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 126 |
32 | Virender Sehwag [Images] | Ind | 81 | 103 | 79.6 | 66 | 78 | 1 | 20.4 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 5 | 117 |
33 | MF Maharoof | SL | 10 | 20 | 4 | 152 | 187 | 4 | 93.6 | 1 | 0.5 | 17 | 4 | 115 |
34 | Robin Uthappa | Ind | 112 | 165 | 92 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 9 | 112 |
35 | CK Kapugedera | SL | 86 | 176 | 31.2 | 101 | 132 | 2 | 52.6 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 7 | 106 |
36 | Munaf Patel [Images] | Ind | 0 | 9 | -7.2 | 120 | 162 | 2 | 57.6 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 3 | 74 |
37 | LPC Silva | SL | 79 | 171 | 21.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 8 | 36 |
38 | Dilruwan Perera | SL | 14 | 36 | -0.8 | 28 | 42 | 1 | 29.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 29 |
39 | Ashley Noffke | Aus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 54 | 1 | 21.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 |
40 | Piyush Chawla | Ind | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 60 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 20 |
41 | WU Tharanga | SL | 10 | 18 | 5.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5.6 |
42 | Brad Haddin | Aus | 12 | 44 | -11.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | -6.2 |
43 | Manoj Tiwari | Ind | 2 | 16 | -8.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -8.8 |
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. After his match-winning century, Sachin Tendulkar is almost certain to be India's most valuable player of the 2007-08 ODI season; at most a couple of games remain before the season draws to a close and even Yuvraj Singh in his best form would have found it hard to overtake the peerless batting master.
Table 2: India's most valuable players of the 2007-08 season (35 matches so far)
Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | batpts | Rc | Bb | W | bwlpts | Ct|St | Run Outs | fldpts | M | Total |
1 | Sachin Tendulkar | 1423 | 1699 | 1487 | 268 | 258 | 5 | 58.4 | 7 | 0.5 | 47 | 32 | 1592 |
2 | Yuvraj Singh | 1095 | 1315 | 1138 | 570 | 609 | 12 | 205.2 | 8 | 2.5 | 100 | 34 | 1443 |
3 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 988 | 1272 | 958 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35|13 | 5.5 | 437 | 33 | 1395 |
4 | Gautam Gambhir | 988 | 1273 | 958 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 27 | 973 |
5 | Sourav Ganguly [Images] | 611 | 850 | 542 | 300 | 348 | 5 | 98.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 20 | 669 |
6 | Zaheer Khan [Images] | 148 | 208 | 130 | 1000 | 1160 | 22 | 456 | 2 | 2.5 | 70 | 22 | 656 |
7 | Harbhajan Singh | 155 | 161 | 181 | 672 | 895 | 14 | 380 | 6 | 2.5 | 90 | 19 | 651 |
8 | Irfan Pathan | 237 | 338 | 204 | 875 | 971 | 21 | 405.8 | 4 | 0.5 | 32 | 21 | 641 |
9 | Robin Uthappa | 434 | 474 | 489 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | 93 | 23 | 582 |
10 | R P Singh | 26 | 55 | 8 | 788 | 885 | 24 | 496 | 2 | 2 | 58 | 18 | 562 |
11 | Rahul Dravid [Images] | 462 | 554 | 481 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.5 | 62 | 20 | 543 |
12 | Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.8 | 571 | 726 | 17 | 417.8 | 9 | 0.5 | 57 | 14 | 488 |
13 | S Sreesanth | 26 | 64 | 0.8 | 549 | 554 | 22 | 422.2 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 13 | 438 |
14 | Rohit Sharma | 294 | 380 | 284 | 8 | 12 | 0 | 1.6 | 8 | 1.5 | 76 | 13 | 362 |
15 | Ishant Sharma | 5 | 17 | -3.6 | 323 | 415 | 14 | 345 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 351 |
16 | Ramesh Powar [Images] | 46 | 78 | 29.6 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286 |
17 | Virender Sehwag | 210 | 243 | 226 | 149 | 162 | 2 | 28.6 | 3 | 0.5 | 27 | 10 | 281 |
18 | Murali Kartik [Images] | 37 | 48 | 35.6 | 300 | 377 | 10 | 241.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 277 |
19 | Dinesh Karthik [Images] | 180 | 217 | 186 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12|1 | 0.5 | 82 | 13 | 268 |
20 | Ajit Agarkar [Images] | 19 | 38 | 7.6 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.2 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 234 |
21 | Praveen Kumar | 18 | 21 | 19.2 | 179 | 240 | 6 | 157 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 4 | 210 |
22 | Munaf Patel | 1 | 12 | -7.6 | 328 | 378 | 8 | 166.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 8 | 188 |
23 | Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.2 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.6 |
24 | Manoj Tiwari | 2 | 16 | -8.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -8.8 |
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.
Srinivas Bhogle and Debasish Ghosh work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.