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Kohli leads India's MVP race

March 27, 2012 15:13 IST

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present the most valuable players in the just-concluded Asia Cup in?Mirpur. Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan is the tournament's MVP. The in-form Virat Kohli, who placed second, is the best among the Indian players by a long way!

The two teams that contested the Asia Cup final -- Bangladesh and Pakistan -- were the keenest to get there.

For India, Sachin Tendulkar's 100th international century and the thumping win over Pakistan seemed enough reward.

For Sri Lanka, nothing seemed to matter -- as their tired players, after a gruelling schedule, just wanted to get back home.

Shakib Al Hasan's all-round performance -- 237 runs at a strike rate of over 110, and six wickets at an economy rate of 5.0, made him the most valuable player of the Asia Cup.

Skahib Al HasanThe MVPI formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate, and bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate.

Virat Kohli, with an aggregate of 357 from just three innings, is second on the list, and Mohammad Hafeez richly deserves third place. He could have contributed even more value if he had taken more than three wickets or batted with a better strike rate.

For the Indian batsmen, it was far too easy, but run your fingers down the list to look for Indian bowlers; there is no one in the top 20!

R Ashwin has become too inert. Irfan Pathan and Praveen Kumar took five wickets apiece but conceded too many runs (economy rate of 6.0 and 6.7 respectively).

Aren't we missing the experience of Harbhajan Singh?

Table 1: Most valuable players in the Asia Cup (March 11-22, 2012)

Player Name Team Runs Top score Strike Rate W Eco M MVPI
1 Shakib Al Hasan BAN 237 68 110.2 6 5.0 4 478
2 Virat Kohli IND 357 183 102.0 0 3 442
3 Mohammad Hafeez PAK 245 105 67.9 3 3.9 4 317
4 Umar Gul PAK 43 39 134.4 9 5.8 4 261
5 Tamim Iqbal BAN 253 70 80.8 0 4 250
6 Saeed Ajmal PAK 12 8 120.0 8 4.3 4 248
7 Nasir Jamshed PAK 193 112 96.0 0 4 234
8 Abdur Razzak BAN 7 6 63.6 6 3.9 4 211
9 Mashrafe Mortaza BAN 19 18 158.3 6 4.4 4 205
10 Nasir Hossain BAN 165 54 71.4 0 6.0 4 192
11 Umar Akmal PAK 156 77 96.9 0 4 183
12 Aizaz Cheema PAK 9 9 81.8 8 5.9 4 178
13 Sachin Tendulkar IND 172 114 80.4 0 7.2 3 167
14 Upul Tharanga SL 122 57 91.0 0 3 147
15 Suresh Raina IND 93 51 152.5 0 5.5 3 143
16 Shahid Afridi PAK 41 32 107.9 3 4.8 4 138
17 Mushfiqur Rahim BAN 60 46 142.9 0 4 135
18 Mahela Jayawardene SL 95 78 110.5 0 3 123
19 Kumar Sangakkara SL 142 71 73.6 0 3 123
20 MS Dhoni IND 71 46 186.8 0 3 120
21 Ravichandran Ashwin IND 0 0 5 5.2 3 119
22 Nazmul Hossain BAN 0 0 4 4.3 2 117
23 Gautam Gambhir IND 111 100 81.6 0 3 114
24 Younis Khan PAK 67 52 103.1 0 4 105
25 Irfan Pathan IND 0 0 5 6.0 3 104
26 Mahmudullah BAN 53 32 101.9 1 4.9 4 95
27 Misbah-ul-Haq PAK 97 72 72.4 0 4 92
28 Farveez Maharoof SL 23 18 76.7 3 5.5 3 90
29 Praveen Kumar IND 0 0 5 6.7 3 80
30 Rohit Sharma IND 72 68 80.9 0 5.8 3 74
31 Suranga Lakmal SL 0 0 0.0 4 5.9 3 74
32 S Senanayake SL 19 19 90.5 2 4.8 1 73
33 Lahiru Thirimanne SL 84 48 65.6 0 3 71
34 Jahurul Islam BAN 78 53 65.5 0 4 69
35 Vinay Kumar IND 0 0 3 6.1 1 65
36 Sarfraz Ahmed PAK 65 46 81.3 0 3 63
37 Hammad Azam PAK 38 30 80.9 1 5.9 3 56
38 Nuwan Kulasekara SL 16 11 55.2 2 5.2 3 54
39 Tillakaratne Dilshan SL 46 20 90.2 0 5.6 3 41
40 Ashok Dinda IND 0 0 2 6.4 2 32
41 Nazimuddin BAN 57 30 53.3 0 4 30
42 Ravindra Jadeja IND 4 4 200.0 1 6.3 2 28
43 Shafiul Islam BAN 1 1 50.0 1 5.6 2 22
44 Shahadat Hossain BAN 0 0 0.0 4 7.1 4 20
45 Seekkuge Prasanna SL 13 8 44.8 1 5.6 2 17
46 Lasith Malinga SL 11 10 57.9 0 4.6 2 13
47 Dinesh Chandimal SL 13 13 50.0 0 2 9
48 Asad Shafiq PAK 4 4 66.7 0 1 3
49 Yusuf Pathan IND 0 0 0 6.0 1 -5
50 Wahab Riaz PAK 0 0 0 12.5 1 -30

Runs (scored) | Top score | Strike rate | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = 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.

If we look at India's top performers in the on-going 2011-12 ODI season, Kohli towers over everyone else. Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir have had their moments, Ashwin has got enough wickets and Ravindra Jadeja, as always, has done enough to stay in the team, but never enough to win the team matches.

Virender Sehwag has been lackadaisical, Sachin Tendulkar has been lacklustre, and Yuvraj Singh has been sadly absent because of his illness. Many would consider this trio to make the difference between a good and a great team.?

Table 2: India's most valuable players in the 2011-12 ODI season (31 matches so far)

Player Name Runs Six Four Strike Rate Bat Pts W Eco Bowl Pts Field Pts M MVPI
1 Virat Kohli 1636 6 155 91.9 1788.7 2 5.7 26.0 110 31 1925
2 Suresh Raina 812 19 69 103.8 972.3 8 4.7 213.2 85 31 1271
3 R Ashwin 193 0 14 79.1 182.7 33 4.8 867.8 70 26 1121
4 Ravindra Jadeja 325 2 25 81.5 317.5 28 5.1 673.3 75 23 1066
5 MS Dhoni 724 15 52 94.0 806.3 0 0.0 210 20 1016
6 Rohit Sharma 713 11 46 85.1 727.7 2 6.6 18.0 72.5 18 818
7 Gautam Gambhir 746 1 70 85.1 761.2 0 0.0 40 20 801
8 Vinay Kumar 43 0 2 43.9 4.3 26 5.4 586.2 47.5 20 638
9 Parthiv Patel 446 6 44 80.9 432.8 0 0.0 147.5 20 580
10 Praveen Kumar 67 3 4 100.0 78.2 20 5.0 455.0 17.5 20 551
11 Virendra Sehwag 330 8 42 121.3 433.3 3 5.4 69.0 15 9 517
12 IK Pathan 100 4 9 102.0 118.3 13 5.2 290.8 22.5 8 432
13 Sachin Tendulkar 315 2 35 81.4 307.5 0 -3.7 32.5 10 336
14 Amit Mishra 5 0 0 33.3 -2.5 11 4.0 326.0 5 5 329
15 Ajinkya Rahane 340 3 33 75.1 302.5 0 0.0 10 11 313
16 Umesh Yadav 23 0 4 76.7 21.0 15 6.1 268.7 10 12 300
17 Munaf Patel 0 0 0 0.0 10 5.6 213.3 25 8 238
18 Manoj Tiwary 163 2 16 80.7 157.7 1 6.9 6.0 60 5 224
19 Harbhajan Singh 47 2 1 69.1 37.3 4 3.6 143.0 10 3 190
20 Rahul Sharma 1 0 0 50.0 0.3 5 5.0 124.7 17.5 3 143
21 Zaheer Khan 9 0 2 81.8 8.8 5 5.1 123.0 0 4 132
22 Rahul Dravid 124 0 9 77.5 114.7 0 0.0 0 5 115
23 A Mithun 23 2 2 143.8 32.7 3 6.4 49.0 5 3 87
24 Yusuf Pathan 42 2 2 91.3 45.7 2 5.7 30.0 5 6 81
25 RP Singh 0 0 0 0.0 4 6.5 68.0 5 3 73
26 Shikhar Dhawan 69 1 4 57.0 37.2 0 0.0 5 4 42
27 Varun Aaron 6 0 1 54.5 2.8 2 5.9 32.0 0 2 35
28 Ashok Dinda 0 0 0 0.0 2 31.7 0 2 32
29 Ishant Sharma 0 0 0 0.0 -4.2 1 5.5 14.3 5 2 15
30 S Badrinath 40 0 3 47.1 9.2 0 0.0 0 4 9

Runs (scored) | Sixes | Fours | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index = 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.

Photograph: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images