Adam Gilchrist [Images] is IPL 2009's most valuable player. If his batting, bowling and fielding performance is expressed only in terms of 'runs', he is seen to have scored a staggering 753 runs. And we haven't taken into account his phenomenal captaincy skills!

The table below ranks the 100 most valuable players of the second season of the Indian Premier League [Images].

To obtain a high rank, players are usually required to show exceptional all-round skills; single skill players rarely make it to the top.

Gilchrist hit the top because of superlative batting and wicket-keeping. His batting performance was worth 583 'runs' (he actually scored 495 runs, but his strike rate of 152 earned him 88 bonus 'runs'), while his fielding performance (as a wicketkeeper) fetched him the remaining 170 'runs'.

Matthew Hayden [Images] and AB de Villiers [Images] have made it to the top five in spite of being single skill (batting) players because they scored more than 500 runs at a very good strike. Anil Kumble [Images] is the only other single skill (bowling) player in the top ten because he took a lot of wickets at an economy rate of just 5.9.

We see more batsmen in top lists than bowlers because good batting has been a little harder in the second IPL than good bowling.

Rank	Player	Team	From	Runs	Strike Rate	W	Eco	M	MVPI	Money ($)	PVI	Value	Age
1	Adam Gilchrist	DC	AUS	495	152.3	0	--	16	753	700000	956	O	37
2	M Hayden	CSK	AUS	572	144.8	0	--	12	678	375000	537	O	37
3	Suresh Raina [Images]	CSK	IND	434	140.9	7	5.9	14	667	650000	975	O	22
4	AB de Villiers	DD	SA	512	130.6	0	--	15	609	300000	500	O	25
5	Rohit Sharma [Images]	DC	IND	326	115.2	11	7.0	16	510	750000	1513	VG	22
6	Brad Hodge [Images]	KKR	AUS	365	117.7	7	8.1	12	467	100000	208	O	34
7	Irfan Pathan [Images]	KXI	IND	196	124.1	17	7.7	14	453	925000	2042	G	24
8	J-P Duminy [Images]	MI	SA	372	114.5	4	5.8	13	450	950000	2083	G	25
9	Yuvraj Singh [Images]	KXI	IND	340	115.3	6	7.1	14	444	1063750	2394	G	27
10	Anil Kumble	BRC	IND	16	84.2	21	5.9	16	436	500000	1180	E	38
11	Dinesh Karthik [Images]	DD	IND	288	132.7	0	--	15	433	525000	1231	E	23
12	A Symonds [Images]	DC	AUS	249	150.0	7	6.7	8	420	1350000	1655	VG	34
13	Yusuf Pathan [Images]	RR	IND	243	132.8	7	6.9	13	412	475000	1136	E	26
14	Jacques Kallis [Images]	BRC	SA	362	109.0	6	7.7	15	411	900000	2221	G	33
15	T Dilshan [Images]	DD	SL	371	122.0	0	6.1	14	408	250000	613	O	32
16	RP Singh [Images]	DC	IND	8	47.1	23	7.0	16	406	875000	2218	G	23
17	MS Dhoni [Images]	CSK	IND	332	127.2	0	--	14	400	1500000	3752	S	27
18	Dwayne Bravo [Images]	MI	WI	218	107.4	11	7.8	10	395	150000	358	O	25
19	Ravindra Jadeja [Images]	RR	IND	295	110.9	6	6.5	13	395	30000	75	O	20
20	Harbhajan Singh [Images]	MI	IND	84	158.5	12	5.8	13	383	850000	2189	G	28
21	Sachin Tendulkar [Images]	MI	IND	364	120.1	0	9.7	13	375	1121250	2945	S	36
22	M Muralitharan [Images]	CSK	SL	8	100.0	14	5.2	13	361	600000	1638	VG	37
23	Ashish Nehra [Images]	DD	IND	1	100.0	19	6.8	12	349	400000	1113	E	30
24	Lasith Malinga [Images]	MI	SL	0	0.0	18	6.3	13	344	350000	1004	E	25
25	Herschelle Gibbs [Images]	DC	SA	328	107.5	0	--	14	341	575000	1685	VG	35
26	T Suman	DC	IND	237	124.7	5	7.2	12	339	30000	86	O	25
27	Pragyan Ojha [Images]	DC	IND	1	14.3	18	6.5	15	325	30000	94	O	22
28	Shane Warne [Images]	RR	AUS	108	93.1	14	7.3	13	323	450000	1375	E	39
29	K Sangakkara	KXI	SL	332	102.5	0	--	14	321	700000	2181	G	31
30	B McCullum	KKR	NZ	285	119.2	0	--	12	318	700000	2140	G	27
31	Munaf Patel [Images]	RR	IND	33	126.9	16	6.9	11	317	275000	830	O	25
32	Ross Taylor [Images]	BRC	NZ	280	134.6	0	13.0	11	307	100000	312	O	25
33	Sanath Jayasuriya [Images]	MI	SL	221	115.1	7	8.6	12	302	975000	3136	S	39
34	Albie Morkel [Images]	CSK	SA	97	138.6	13	8.2	12	293	650000	2159	G	27
35	R v d Merwe	BRC	SA	122	124.5	9	7.3	10	292	75000	242	O	24
36	Dwayne Smith [Images]	DC	WI	215	162.9	1	8.9	6	285	100000	311	O	26
37	Praveen Kumar [Images]	BRC	IND	65	141.3	13	7.9	13	284	300000	1041	E	22
38	Amit Mishra [Images]	DD	IND	26	130.0	14	7.0	11	281	30000	102	O	26
39	Abhishek Nayar [Images]	MI	IND	193	127.0	4	7.0	13	278	100000	355	O	25
40	Rahul Dravid [Images]	BRC	IND	271	115.8	0	--	13	273	1035000	3744	S	36
41	Virat Kohli [Images]	BRC	IND	246	112.3	0	7.7	16	268	300000	1150	E	20
42	M Jayawardene [Images]	KXI	SL	219	132.7	0	--	10	264	475000	1698	VG	31
43	Dirk Nannes [Images]	DD	AUS	0	--	15	7.5	13	252	70000	274	O	33
44	Piyush Chawla [Images]	KXI	IND	31	86.1	12	6.9	14	249	400000	1605	VG	20
45	P Sangwan	DD	IND	6	60.0	15	7.7	13	242	30000	122	O	18
46	Gautam Gambhir [Images]	DD	IND	286	102.9	0	--	15	233	725000	3163	S	27
47	Shadab Jakati [Images]	CSK	IND	20	133.3	13	7.5	9	229	30000	122	O	28
48	Virender Sehwag [Images]	DD	IND	198	143.5	0	25.0	11	226	833750	3539	S	30
49	David Warner	DD	AUS	163	123.5	0	--	7	219	250000	1030	E	22
50	Ishant Sharma [Images]	KKR	IND	16	123.1	11	6.9	11	210	950000	4325	P	20
51	Mark Boucher [Images]	BRC	SA	150	129.3	0	--	12	206	450000	2127	G	32
52	Manish Pandey	BRC	IND	168	142.4	0	--	5	201	30000	130	O	19
53	Chris Gayle [Images]	KKR	WI	171	119.6	1	7.6	7	196	800000	2280	G	29
54	Naman Ojha	RR	IND	168	116.7	0	--	8	195	30000	141	O	25
55	MN van Wyk	KKR		167	126.5	0	--	5	193	50000	226	O
56	Robin Uthappa [Images]	BRC	IND	175	102.9	0	--	15	192	800000	4226	P	23
57	Venugopal Rao	DC	IND	124	108.8	4	8.1	16	192	30000	161	O	27
58	L Balaji [Images]	CSK	IND	4	40.0	13	8.4	13	183	30000	162	O	27
59	Yusuf Abdulla	KXI	SA	0	--	14	8.6	9	179	50000	259	O	26
60	Rajat Bhatia	DD	IND	8	44.4	10	6.7	8	176	30000	156	O	29
61	Amit Singh	RR	IND	1	33.3	9	5.4	5	170	30000	154	O	27
62	S Badrinath	CSK	IND	177	107.9	0	--	14	169	30000	178	O	28
63	Simon Katich [Images]	KXI	AUS	145	123.9	0	--	9	167	200000	1114	E	33
64	Vinay Kumar	BRC	IND	47	106.8	9	8.4	11	165	30000	174	O	25
65	Laxmi Shukla [Images]	KKR	IND	83	97.6	3	7.1	9	163	30000	171	O	28
66	Graeme Smith [Images]	RR	SA	212	98.1	0	--	12	162	475000	2848	S	28
67	Daniel Vettori [Images]	DD	NZ	34	106.3	7	7.8	7	160	625000	3510	S	30
68	K Pietersen	BRC	ENG	93	109.4	4	6.5	6	160	1550000	4145	P	28
69	Ajinkya Rahane	MI	IND	144	117.1	1	5.0	8	156	40000	235	O	20
70	Sourav Ganguly [Images]	KKR	IND	189	91.3	2	8.1	13	154	1092500	6981	P	36
71	Jacob Oram [Images]	CSK	NZ	88	94.6	5	8.6	11	149	675000	4336	P	30
72	Brett Lee [Images]	KXI	AUS	28	82.4	5	5.6	5	139	900000	2682	S	32
73	Parthiv Patel [Images]	CSK	IND	142	112.7	0	--	9	139	325000	2179	G	24
74	David Hussey [Images]	KKR	AUS	98	166.1	0	8.5	4	137	675000	1967	VG	31
75	D Mascarenhas [Images]	RR	ENG	39	100.0	6	6.8	5	136	100000	640	O	31
76	Ravi Bopara [Images]	KXI	ENG	138	116.0	0	3.8	5	136	450000	1368	E	24
77	Murali Kartik [Images]	KKR	IND	21	105.0	4	5.9	10	135	425000	2968	S	32
78	Ryan Harris	DC	AUS	21	116.7	6	7.5	8	131	60000	419	O	29
79	Ramesh Powar [Images]	KXI	IND	23	104.5	5	6.3	9	131	30000	213	O	31
80	Zaheer Khan [Images]	MI	IND	8	72.7	6	6.8	6	123	450000	3234	S	30
81	Kamran Khan	RR	IND	3	60.0	6	7.0	5	122	30000	215	O	18
82	Sunny Sohal	KXI	IND	115	123.7	0	--	8	122	30000	225	O	21
83	Jesse Ryder [Images]	BRC	NZ	56	114.3	3	6.8	5	116	160000	1199	E	24
84	J Botha	RR		47	117.5	3	6.2	3	113		0
85	Lee Carseldine	RR	Aus	81	119.1	1	6.0	5	110	50000	398	O	33
86	Ajit Agarkar [Images]	KKR	IND	66	115.8	6	9.2	11	107	330000	2959	S	31
87	Pinal Shah	MI	IND	53	103.9	0	--	9	104	40000	356	O	21
88	Karan Goel [Images]	KXI	IND	124	93.2	0	7.6	9	101	30000	276	O	22
89	W P Saha	KKR	IND	72	175.6	0	--	8	101	30000	272	O	24
90	Fidel Edwards [Images]	DC	WI	4	80.0	5	6.6	6	98	150000	745	O	27
91	Siddharth Trivedi	RR	IND	9	50.0	6	7.6	7	92	30000	295	O	26
92	S Asnodkar [Images]	RR	IND	98	105.4	0	--	8	91	30000	301	O	25
93	Scott Styris	DC	NZ	14	175.0	5	8.0	2	89	175000	1629	VG	33
94	F Maharoof	DD	SL	21	100.0	4	6.5	3	86	225000	2212	G	24
95	A S Raut	RR	IND	78	127.9	0	9.0	9	86	30000	325	O	22
96	Sudeep Tyagi	CSK	IND	0	--	5	7.2	8	86	30000	321	O	21
97	B Akhil	BRC	IND	17	113.3	4	7.3	6	85	50000	519	O	31
98	Chaminda Vaas [Images]	DC	SL	30	142.9	4	8.9	2	83	200000	2003	G	35
99	Rob Quiney	RR	AUS	103	101.0	0	--	7	83	50000	545	O	26
100	A Flintoff	CSK	ENG	62	117.0	2	9.5	3	81	1550000	4088	P	31

To find out which players offered the best value for money, we must look at the paisa vasool index (PVI). Players with a PVI below 1000 offer outstanding value (O); if the PVI is between 1000 to 1500, the player offers excellent value (E); a PVI between 1500 to 2000 is very good (VG), while a PVI between 2000 and 2500 can be classified as good (G). A PVI between 2500 and 4000 is satisfactory (S), but a PVI greater than 4000 must be considered to be a poor (P) return of investment.

Note, however, that this is a valuation of only cricketing skills. It does not factor in leadership skills and brand selling potential.

Srinivas Bhogle now works for TEOCO Software Pvt Ltd. This note is based on the detailed IPL1 analysis carried out by Purnendu Maji in 2008. The paisa vasool index uses a model developed by M J Manohar Rao and Rajeeva L Karandikar