Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Gilchrist is IPL's most valuable player

Last updated on: May 25, 2009 14:45 IST

Adam Gilchrist 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.

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 and AB de Villiers 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 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 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 DC IND 326 115.2 11 7.0 16 510 750000 1513 VG 22
6 Brad Hodge KKR AUS 365 117.7 7 8.1 12 467 100000 208 O 34
7 Irfan Pathan KXI IND 196 124.1 17 7.7 14 453 925000 2042 G 24
8 J-P Duminy MI SA 372 114.5 4 5.8 13 450 950000 2083 G 25
9 Yuvraj Singh 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 DD IND 288 132.7 0 -- 15 433 525000 1231 E 23
12 A Symonds DC AUS 249 150.0 7 6.7 8 420 1350000 1655 VG 34
13 Yusuf Pathan RR IND 243 132.8 7 6.9 13 412 475000 1136 E 26
14 Jacques Kallis BRC SA 362 109.0 6 7.7 15 411 900000 2221 G 33
15 T Dilshan DD SL 371 122.0 0 6.1 14 408 250000 613 O 32
16 RP Singh DC IND 8 47.1 23 7.0 16 406 875000 2218 G 23
17 MS Dhoni CSK IND 332 127.2 0 -- 14 400 1500000 3752 S 27
18 Dwayne Bravo MI WI 218 107.4 11 7.8 10 395 150000 358 O 25
19 Ravindra Jadeja RR IND 295 110.9 6 6.5 13 395 30000 75 O 20
20 Harbhajan Singh MI IND 84 158.5 12 5.8 13 383 850000 2189 G 28
21 Sachin Tendulkar MI IND 364 120.1 0 9.7 13 375 1121250 2945 S 36
22 M Muralitharan CSK SL 8 100.0 14 5.2 13 361 600000 1638 VG 37
23 Ashish Nehra DD IND 1 100.0 19 6.8 12 349 400000 1113 E 30
24 Lasith Malinga MI SL 0 0.0 18 6.3 13 344 350000 1004 E 25
25 Herschelle Gibbs 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 DC IND 1 14.3 18 6.5 15 325 30000 94 O 22
28 Shane Warne 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 RR IND 33 126.9 16 6.9 11 317 275000 830 O 25
32 Ross Taylor BRC NZ 280 134.6 0 13.0 11 307 100000 312 O 25
33 Sanath Jayasuriya MI SL 221 115.1 7 8.6 12 302 975000 3136 S 39
34 Albie Morkel 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 DC WI 215 162.9 1 8.9 6 285 100000 311 O 26
37 Praveen Kumar BRC IND 65 141.3 13 7.9 13 284 300000 1041 E 22
38 Amit Mishra DD IND 26 130.0 14 7.0 11 281 30000 102 O 26
39 Abhishek Nayar MI IND 193 127.0 4 7.0 13 278 100000 355 O 25
40 Rahul Dravid BRC IND 271 115.8 0 -- 13 273 1035000 3744 S 36
41 Virat Kohli BRC IND 246 112.3 0 7.7 16 268 300000 1150 E 20
42 M Jayawardene KXI SL 219 132.7 0 -- 10 264 475000 1698 VG 31
43 Dirk Nannes DD AUS 0 -- 15 7.5 13 252 70000 274 O 33
44 Piyush Chawla 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 DD IND 286 102.9 0 -- 15 233 725000 3163 S 27
47 Shadab Jakati CSK IND 20 133.3 13 7.5 9 229 30000 122 O 28
48 Virender Sehwag 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 KKR IND 16 123.1 11 6.9 11 210 950000 4325 P 20
51 Mark Boucher 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 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 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 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 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 KKR IND 83 97.6 3 7.1 9 163 30000 171 O 28
66 Graeme Smith RR SA 212 98.1 0 -- 12 162 475000 2848 S 28
67 Daniel Vettori 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 KKR IND 189 91.3 2 8.1 13 154 1092500 6981 P 36
71 Jacob Oram CSK NZ 88 94.6 5 8.6 11 149 675000 4336 P 30
72 Brett Lee KXI AUS 28 82.4 5 5.6 5 139 900000 2682 S 32
73 Parthiv Patel CSK IND 142 112.7 0 -- 9 139 325000 2179 G 24
74 David Hussey KKR AUS 98 166.1 0 8.5 4 137 675000 1967 VG 31
75 D Mascarenhas RR ENG 39 100.0 6 6.8 5 136 100000 640 O 31
76 Ravi Bopara KXI ENG 138 116.0 0 3.8 5 136 450000 1368 E 24
77 Murali Kartik 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 KXI IND 23 104.5 5 6.3 9 131 30000 213 O 31
80 Zaheer Khan 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 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 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 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 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 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 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

Srinivas Bhogle