Dhoni is India's most valuable ODI player

After winning the International Cricket Council's [Images] ODI Player of the Year 2008 award, it is not such a big surprise that Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] is also India's most valuable ODI player so far in the 2008-09 season.

However, the Indian ODI captain faces stiff competition from Virender Sehwag [Images]. In fact, Sehwag would have been an easy topper if he had been fit to play the India-Sri Lanka ODI series that ended recently.


Batsmen scoring a lot of runs at a good strike rate, bowler taking the most wickets at a good (low) economy rate and fielders taking the most catches or run outs, are seen to offer their teams the greatest "value". The most valuable player index (MVPI) collapses a player's all-round performance into a suitable 'run equivalent'.



India's MVP in the 2008-09 ODI season (14 matches so far)
Rank Player Runs Balls Strike Rate Bat Pts Bb Rc W Eco Bowl Pts Ct St Run Outs Field Pts M Total
1 MS Dhoni 608 689 88.2 641.8 0 0 0 - 0.0 20 3.5 187.5 14 829
2 Virender Sehwag 498 358 139.1 697.7 173 150 3 5.2 69.2 2 0 10 8 777
3 Suresh Raina 579 603 96.0 655.5 18 22 0 7.3 -7.0 7 1 60 14 709
4 Gautam Gambhir [Images] 504 511 98.6 582.2 0 0 0 - 0.0 4 1 45 13 627
5 Yuvraj Singh [Images] 366 401 91.3 397.8 234 198 4 5.1 97.0 2 0 10 13 505
6 Irfan Pathan [Images] 105 126 83.3 105.0 460 416 10 5.4 217.3 1 0 5 9 327
7 Praveen Kumar 16 25 64.0 11.2 495 417 11 5.1 270.5 3 0.5 27.5 10 309
8 Zaheer Khan [Images] 18 66 27.3 -19.0 278 144 9 3.1 312.7 0 0.5 12.5 5 306
9 RP Singh 4 14 28.6 -3.7 366 339 11 5.6 241.0 2 2 60 7 297
10 Rohit Sharma 247 350 70.6 202.3 83 42 0 3.0 27.2 3 1 40 14 270
11 Piyush Chawla [Images] 2 7 28.6 -1.8 322 295 11 5.5 248.3 1 0 5 6 252
12 Munaf Patel [Images] 20 17 117.6 25.8 246 166 7 4.0 214.0 1 0 5 5 245
13 Harbhajan Singh [Images] 17 44 38.6 -2.7 178 113 6 3.8 185.3 1 0.5 17.5 4 200
14 Pragyan Ojha 27 46 58.7 15.7 258 173 5 4.0 167.0 3 0 15 5 198
15 Ishant Sharma 8 19 42.1 0.2 396 385 8 5.8 145.0 2 0 10 7 155
16 Virat Kohli 159 239 66.5 118.8 0 0 0 - 0.0 3 0.5 27.5 5 146
17 Yusuf Pathan 28 41 68.3 21.8 234 193 3 4.9 77.0 4 0.5 32.5 7 131
18 Manpreet Gony 0 0 - 0.0 94 76 2 4.9 52.3 0 0 0 2 52
19 Robin Uthappa 37 61 60.7 23.2 0 0 0 - 0.0 0 0 0 3 23
20 S Badrinath 39 87 44.8 5.5 0 0 0 - 0.0 2 0 10 3 16



Runs (scored) | Balls (faced) | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | Bb: Balls bowled | Rc: Runs conceded | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | 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.

Dhoni was also voted the Player of the Series in the five-match series against Sri Lanka [Images], presumably for his two crucial half-centuries and his 'cool' captaincy, that largely contributed to India's series victory.

But Sri Lanka's Thilan Thushara must consider himself a trifle unlucky to miss this honour, because he was, without a doubt, statistically the best performer of the series.

It was also a series in which the bowlers ruled, with the top six players all being bowlers. Perhaps the fact that Dhoni was the highest run-getter on these batsmen-unfriendly pitches also tilted the scales in his favour.