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De Villiers overtakes Gayle in World Cup MVP standings

Last updated on: March 07, 2015 17:47 IST

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji on how A B de Villiers has blasted his way to the top of Rediff.com's Most Valuable Players ratings for the World Cup. Check out the latest update of the MVP rankings!

AB de Villiers

Image: The incredible A B de Villiers plays the reverse sweep. Photograph: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

South Africa's Captain A B de Villiers (MVPI: 481) has overtaken West Indian Chris Gayle (477) to lead the most valuable player standings at the ongoing ICC World Cup.

De Villiers will stretch the lead at the top after his attacking half-century (77 from 58 balls) against Pakistan on Saturday, March 7, despite South Africa going down by 29 runs in a rain-affected match at Eden Park.

The Most Valuable Player Index (MVPI) formula picks out batsmen who score a lot of runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take a lot of wickets at a low economy rate, and fielders who take the most catches or participate in the most run out dismissals -- and collapses a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'.

Strangely, despite four wins on the trot, none of India's players feature in the top 20 of the MVPI table.

The highest place Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (277) is placed 21st followed by Shikhar Dhawan (270, placed 25th), Mohammed Shami (267, placed 26th), and Virat Kohli (251, 31st).

So, without any of their players doing something spectacular, the Indians are moving along nicely in the World Cup, having performed as a unit so far.

The spectacular performers, apart from de Villiers and Gayle, have been Kumar Sangakkara (384; 3rd) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (347; 4th) from Sri Lanka, Tim Southee (333; 5th) and Brendon McCullum (327; 9th) from New Zealand, David Warner (317; 11th) and Glen Maxwell (301; 12th) from Australia, David Miller (329; 8th) and Hashim Amla (319; 10th) from South Africa.

It is especially heart-warming to find Shaiman Anwar of the United Arab Emirates (333; 6th) and Sean Williams of Zimbabwe (331; 7th) in the top 10 following their consistent performances in the tournament.

Players from England and Pakistan continue to remain scarce.

Table: Most valuable players so far in the 2015 World Cup (after 28 matches, as on midnight of March 6, 2015):

Rank Player Team Runs 4s 6s Strike Rate W Eco Ct St Run Outs M MVPI
1 AB de Villiers SA 241 22 11 161.7 1 3.5 4 3 4 481
2 Chris Gayle WI 279 15 18 108.6 5 5.4 3 0 5 477
3 Kumar Sangakkara SL 268 30 3 125.8 0 0.0 5 0 4 384
4 Tillakaratne Dilshan SL 229 28 2 94.2 3 4.9 3 0 4 347
5 Tim Southee NZ 0 0 0 0.0 13 4.9 1 0 4 333
6 Shaiman Anwar UAE 270 29 4 100.0 0 0.0 1 0.5 4 333
7 Sean Williams ZIM 193 19 1 112.9 4 5.9 3 0 4 331
8 David Miller SA 226 13 11 146.8 0 0.0 1 0 4 329
9 Brendon McCullum NZ 207 28 11 188.2 0 0.0 1 0 4 327
10 Hashim Amla SA 257 20 5 95.2 0 0.0 6 0 4 319
11 David Warner AUS 234 24 6 121.2 0 0.0 2 0 3 317
12 Glenn Maxwell AUS 155 17 7 189.0 2 6.8 0 1 3 301
13 Daniel Vettori NZ 10 1 0 142.9 8 3.3 4 0 4 293
14 Jerome Taylor WI 26 3 0 72.2 11 5.3 1 0 5 290
15 Corey Anderson NZ 112 11 3 107.7 6 4.8 0 0 4 290
16 Wahab Riaz PAK 67 7 2 108.1 8 5.4 2 0.5 4 288
17 Lahiru Thirimanne SL 256 24 2 90.8 0 0.0 2 0 4 287
18 Mitchell Starc AUS 0 0 0 0.0 10 3.9 2 0 3 285
19 Trent Boult NZ 0 0 0 0.0 10 4.0 0 0 4 284
20 Kyle Coetzer SCOT 253 33 4 94.1 0 6.3 1 0 4 283
21 Ravichandran Ashwin IND 22 0 0 57.9 9 3.9 0 0 4 277
22 Moeen Ali ENG 173 21 5 107.5 3 5.4 0 0 4 275
23 Josh Davey SCOT 25 1 0 54.3 11 5.7 2 0 4 272
24 Shakib Al Hasan BAN 161 15 3 106.6 3 5.0 0 0 3 271
25 Shikhar Dhawan IND 233 27 3 92.1 0 0.0 3 0 4 270
26 Mohammed Shami IND 7 1 0 87.5 9 4.0 2 0 3 267
27 Faf du Plessis SA 250 18 2 88.7 0 7.5 2 0 4 265
28 Andre Russell WI 77 6 6 208.1 7 6.3 2 0 5 261
29 Imran Tahir SA 8 1 0 80.0 9 4.5 0 0 4 254
30 Misbah-ul-Haq PAK 221 17 3 80.4 0 0.0 3 1 4 253
31 Virat Kohli IND 219 21 0 83.3 0 0.0 4 0.5 4 251
32 Mushfiqur Rahim BAN 167 14 4 121.9 0 0.0 1 1 3 250
33 Shapoor Zadran AFG 15 2 0 88.2 9 5.3 0 0 4 231
34 Morne Morkel SA 2 0 0 40.0 9 5.1 1 0 4 227
35 Angelo Mathews SL 90 7 0 67.7 5 5.2 1 1 4 220
36 Joe Root ENG 173 17 2 89.6 1 6.3 3 0 4 215
37 Jason Holder WI 113 7 7 100.9 5 6.2 1 0 5 215
38 Mohit Sharma IND 0 0 0 0.0 6 3.9 1 1 4 213
39 Marlon Samuels WI 194 16 4 73.2 2 5.9 2 0 5 210
40 Umesh Yadav IND 0 0 0 0.0 6 4.3 4 0.5 4 204
41 Amjad Javed UAE 109 13 3 118.5 4 6.6 1 0 4 199
42 Richie Berrington SCOT 109 7 3 70.3 5 5.9 0 0 4 198
43 Brendan Taylor ZIM 174 17 3 85.3 0 0.0 4 0 4 198
44 Lendl Simmons WI 161 13 7 104.5 0 12.0 2 0 5 197
45 Aaron Finch AUS 153 13 4 106.3 0 0.0 2 0 3 196
46 Rilee Rossouw SA 122 12 4 176.8 0 6.5 2 0 2 194
47 Umar Akmal PAK 111 9 2 85.4 0 0.0 7 1.5 4 186
48 Paul Stirling IRL 104 11 3 105.1 2 4.9 1 0 3 183
49 Ravindra Jadeja IND 18 2 0 56.3 6 4.5 1 0 4 180
50 Sohail Khan PAK 14 1 0 53.8 8 5.8 1 0 4 179
51 Kyle Abbott SA 0 0 0 0.0 6 3.6 1 0 2 177
52 Tendai Chatara ZIM 22 2 0 71.0 7 5.6 0 0 4 170
53 Jean-Paul Duminy SA 121 9 3 105.2 1 5.6 1 0 2 167
54 Sohaib Maqsood PAK 116 10 3 100.0 1 4.0 0 0 4 166
55 Kane Williamson NZ 149 17 2 85.6 0 7.0 3 0 4 166
56 Suresh Raina IND 102 8 3 118.6 0 4.5 6 0 4 163
57 Darren Sammy WI 150 14 5 93.2 1 6.8 1 0 5 161
58 James Taylor ENG 140 12 3 97.2 0 0.0 0 0 4 160
59 Haris Sohail PAK 133 10 1 73.5 2 6.6 4 0 4 159
60 Hamid Hassan AFG 22 1 0 34.9 7 5.3 1 0 4 159
61 Mitchell Marsh AUS 31 3 0 100.0 5 5.3 0 0 3 157
62 MS Dhoni IND 81 7 2 101.3 0 0.0 7 1 4 155
63 Craig Ervine ZIM 121 10 4 98.4 0 0.0 3 0 4 155
64 Brad Haddin AUS 94 11 3 146.9 0 0.0 4 0 3 155
65 Shahid Afridi PAK 71 6 3 124.6 2 4.9 1 0 4 154
66 Ed Joyce IRL 121 13 2 100.8 0 0.0 2 0 3 152
67 Suranga Lakmal SL 7 0 0 41.2 7 6.1 3 0 4 150
68 Lasith Malinga SL 0 0 0 0.0 7 5.8 1 0 4 150
69 Mohammad Irfan PAK 3 0 0 18.8 5 4.1 0 0 4 149
70 Chris Woakes ENG 48 3 0 88.9 5 6.1 1 0 4 149
71 Niall O'Brien IRL 110 14 0 118.3 0 0.0 1 0 3 148
72 Mohammad Naveed UAE 42 3 3 120.0 5 6.1 1 0 4 147
73 Manjula Guruge UAE 10 1 0 62.5 5 4.6 0 0 3 141
74 Sabbir Rahman BAN 98 11 2 89.1 1 6.4 3 0.5 3 140
75 Alasdair Evans SCOT 37 5 0 71.2 4 4.8 0 0 3 138
76 Steven Finn ENG 2 0 0 13.3 8 6.9 0 0 4 137
77 Mitchell Johnson AUS 1 0 0 12.5 6 5.9 2 0 3 137
78 Mashrafe Mortaza BAN 21 4 0 131.3 4 4.9 1 0 3 136
79 Jos Buttler ENG 76 11 1 146.2 0 0.0 5 0 4 134
80 Thisara Perera SL 47 6 1 180.8 3 5.8 1 0 3 133
81 Dwayne Smith WI 78 12 1 72.9 1 4.4 2 1 5 130
82 Sikandar Raza ZIM 85 12 1 92.4 1 4.7 1 0 4 129
83 Ian Bell ENG 147 14 0 73.1 0 0.0 0 0 4 127
84 Denesh Ramdin WI 74 9 0 76.3 0 0.0 12 0 5 127
85 Ahmed Shehzad PAK 141 13 1 70.9 0 0.0 2 0 4 126
86 Mahmudullah BAN 113 9 1 73.4 1 5.5 2 0 3 124
87 Hamilton Masakadza ZIM 115 12 2 78.8 1 6.0 0 0 4 122
88 Mohammad Nabi AFG 68 7 1 81.9 2 6.1 3 1 4 121
89 Dawlat Zadran AFG 13 2 0 38.2 6 6.0 0 0 3 119
90 Rangana Herath SL 13 2 0 68.4 3 4.5 3 0 4 118
91 Kevin O'Brien IRL 98 11 3 107.7 4 9.9 2 0 3 118
92 Khurram Khan UAE 138 12 1 72.6 0 7.0 1 0 4 117
93 Steven Smith AUS 104 9 1 88.1 0 9.5 3 0 3 116
94 Majid Haq SCOT 47 6 0 58.8 3 4.9 2 0 4 116
95 Samiullah Shenwari AFG 193 16 5 59.8 0 5.6 1 0 4 115
96 George Dockrell IRL 32 2 1 51.6 4 5.3 2 0 3 113
97 Soumya Sarkar BAN 53 8 1 132.5 0 4.3 5 0.5 3 112
98 Gary Wilson IRL 81 9 0 103.8 0 0.0 3 0 3 112
99 Ajinkya Rahane IND 93 9 3 97.9 0 0.0 1 0 4 112
100 Matt Machan SCOT 127 14 2 77.4 0 6.2 1 0 4 111

Team ' Runs (scored) ' 4s ' 6s ' Strike rate ' W: Wickets taken ' Eco: Economy rate 'Ct St: Catches, stumpings ' Run outs ' 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.

As the World Cup heads towards the all-important knockout stages with most of the teams fighting for a place in the quarter-finals, you can expect many more twists and turns in the days ahead.

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Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji, for Rediff.com