Being captain in a 20-20 game requires exceptional skills; the task might be so onerous that captains may even find it difficult to concentrate on their basic cricketing skills involving batting, bowling and fielding.

Who among the DLF IPL captains is exhibiting the best cricketing skills?

A simple calculation based on the most valuable player index (MVPI) and the Paisa Vasool Index (PVI) indicates that Virender Sehwag [Images] of Delhi Daredevils is currently the best performing captain. Sehwag has the highest MVPI and the lowest PVI.

• IPL Paisa Vasool Index: The rich and the successful

Shane Warne [Images] of Rajasthan Royals and V V S Laxman [Images] of Deccan Chargers offer the next best value for money, partly because they carry smaller price tags than the other captains.

Recall that the MVPI is calculated by considering the runs scored, strike rate, wickets taken, economy rate, catches taken and run outs effected (the MVPI however does not consider runs saved or conceded in the field, catches dropped etc., although it is easily possible to add these variables). The higher the MVPI, the better the player is performing.

The PVI equals: amount paid so far to the player /MVPI of the player. The PVI can be thought of as the amount (in US$) paid to a player for every run-equivalent scored so far. The lower the PVI, the better the value offered by the player.

We must emphasize again that the PVI is only based on a player's on-field performance and does not take into account his past record, popularity, brand value, and crowd-pulling or TRP-influencing abilities.

In our next analysis, we will try to figure out which fast bowler is offering the best return on investment.

The full tables (updated till the noon of 6 May 2008) are shown below.

Table 1: The best IPL buys after the first 25 IPL matches (US dollars paid so far for contributing each "run")

DD: Delhi Daredevils | CSK: Chennai Super Kings | DC: Deccan Chargers | RCB: Royal Challengers Bangalore | RR: Rajasthan Royals | KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders | KXI: Kings XI Punjab | MI: Mumbai Indians

M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index | Money offered; some estimates may be incorrect! | MA: Matches available | MF: Fraction of money earned so far | PVI: Paisa Vasool index; dollars paid for every run equivalent scored

This list does not contain names of players who have still not played, or played in just a match or two without having an opportunity to perform.

Table 2 lists the data required for most valuable player (MVP) calculation. It is easy to see that the index has picked out the top performers so far sufficiently well.

Table 2: IPL's most valuable players (after 25 matches; as on noon of 6 May 2008)

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.

Also read: IPL Paisa Vasool Index: The rich and the successful

Srinivas Bhogle, Purnendu Maji and Arthur DSilva work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.