Sachin Tendulkar [Images] continues to be India's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in one-day internationals in the current season, even though he has played in only 11 of India's 14 ODI games after the disastrous World Cup 2007.

It's been an extraordinary comeback by the veteran batsman.

Sourav Ganguly [Images] is placed fourth. He would certainly have been in the top three if he had played all the India ODI games this season.

Yuvraj Singh's [Images] second place is more predictable, because he always scores quickly and bowls a bit too.

Rahul Dravid's [Images] third place is a bit of a surprise, he's up there because of a vastly improved strike rate (87 runs per 100 balls this season, his career strike rate is 71 per 100 balls). Dravid has always scored a lot of runs, but seldom at such a frenetic pace.

India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (14 matches):

Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
S Tendulkar	578	696	599.2	118	108	3	40.4	1	0.5	17	11	657
Yuvraj Singh	467	545	498	274	273	6	88.4	4	1	44	14	630
Rahul Dravid	411	474	442.8					5	0.5	37	14	480
Sourav Ganguly	395	560	342	185	246	4	107.8	1	1	29	11	479
Piyush Chawla	20	34	12.8	538	666	17	402.8	8	0.5	52	13	468
M S Dhoni [Images] (w/k)	316	417	298.4					13|4	2	153	12	451
G Gambhir	405	527	388.4					1	0	5	10	393
R P Singh	13	27	4.4	365	486	13	335.8	1	0.5	17	10	357
Zaheer Khan [Images]	71	82	76.4	460	576	9	216.8	0	1	24	11	317
Ramesh Powar	29	60	10	448	602	10	273.6	2	0	10	11	294
Dinesh Karthik	180	211	191.2					11|1	0.5	77	12	268
Ajit Agarkar [Images]	19	38	7.6	415	414	12	204.2	2	0.5	22	8	234
Robin Uthappa	124	125	148					2	1	34	3	182
Munaf Patel [Images]	1	3	-0.4	208	216	6	108.8	1	0	5	5	113
V Sehwag	51	47	64.4	46	48	1	16.4	2	0	10	2	90.8
Dinesh Mongia	34	41	35.2	106	108	3	52.4				2	87.6
S Sreesanth [Images]				64	90	3	80				2	80
Rohit Sharma	8	9	8.8	3	6	0	1.8	2	0	10	2	20.6
Ishant Sharma				38	42	0	-4.4				1	-4.4

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 |

Note: 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.

The table below lists the Most Valuable Players at the end of the recently concluded seven-match NatWest ODI series in England [Images].

Ian Bell [Images] topped the list (he was also the man of the series) and England captain Paul Collingwood [Images] was second.

Only three Indians (all batsmen -- Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Ganguly) figured in the top 10, so England were indeed deserving winners. India had the greater batting firepower, but England had a much better balanced team.

The most valuable players in the India-England series:

Rank	Player	Runs	Balls	Bat-pts	Rc	Bb	W	Bowl-pts	Ct|St	Run outs	Field-pts	M	Total
1	I Bell	422	460	476					4	1	44	7	520
2	P Collingwood	274	280	324	251	276	3	41.8	8	0.5	52	7	418
3	S Tendulkar	374	436	399.2	74	72	0	-16	0	0.5	12	7	395
4	JM Anderson	1	1	1.2	316	395	14	336	3	0.5	27	7	364
5	Yuvraj Singh	283	329	302.8	146	126	1	-21	3	1	39	7	321
6	D Mascarenhas	88	54	132.8	137	204	6	170	1	0.5	17	4	320
7	Sourav Ganguly	249	339	226.8	120	150	2	48	0	1	24	7	299
8	MJ Prior (wk)	142	161	155.2					14|1	2.5	140	7	295
9	S Broad	85	111	81.2	340	392	9	190	0	1	24	7	295
10	A Flintoff	14	15	16	144	213	10	266	2		10	4	292
11	Rahul Dravid	223	229	262.8					3		15	7	278
12	M S Dhoni (w/k)	175	242	156.4					8|2	1	84	7	240
13	Owais Shah	149	166	165.2	19	24	1	24.2	0	0.5	12	5	201
14	K Pietersen	209	274	198.8	13	11	0	-4.2	1		5	7	200
15	A Cook	182	241	171.2					3		15	6	186
16	M Panesar				268	336	6	145	1	1.5	41	6	186
17	Ramesh Powar	23	46	9.2	235	308	6	155	2		10	6	175
18	RP Singh	13	27	4.4	222	252	7	148	1		5	5	157
19	Zaheer Khan	62	78	61.6	270	336	4	94.8				6	156
20	Piyush Chawla	17	30	10	314	360	6	118	4		20	7	148
21	Robin Uthappa	69	63	87.6					1	1	29	2	117
22	G Gambhir	113	157	100.4								4	100
23	Ajit Agarkar	19	38	7.6	313	264	7	66.2	2		10	5	84
24	L Wright	50	41	67.2	11	12	0	-1.4	1		5	2	71
25	Dinesh Karthik	51	74	42.8					3	0.5	27	5	70
26	R Bopara	81	127	60.4	46	43	0	-12	2		10	5	59
27	Munaf Patel	1	3	-0.4	107	78	4	51.4	1		5	2	56
28	Chris Tremlett	19	10	30	130	102	2	-0.4	1		5	2	35
29	J Lewis	17	15	22	63	60	1	9				1	31

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 |

Note: *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 now await the India-Australia ODI series in India.

Srinivas Bhogle, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.