India-New Zealand MVPI: Kohli, Mishra reign supreme

It was India's players all the way, with batting sensation Virat Kohli emerging the most valuable, ahead of senior spinner Amit Mishra.

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji graphically depict the top players from the recently concluded India-New Zealand ODI series. 

With a mammoth run tally of 358, and an awe-inspiring strike rate of just over 100, it is no surprise that Virat Kohli emerged as the most valuable player (MVP) in the recently-concluded India-New Zealand 5-match ODI series with a MVP index (MVPI) of 430.

Just behind him, at the second position, is Amit Mishra with a MVPI of 403 for his 15 wickets with an economy rate of 4.8.

Kedar Jadhav’s all-round performance of 90 runs and 6 wickets puts him at the third place with a MVPI of 290, just above New Zealand’s Tom Latham (MVPI 276) and Tim Southee (255).

The series was not as close as the 3-2 end result might indicate because when India won they won big.

The 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 run outs. MVPI expresses a player’s overall batting + bowling + fielding performance in terms of a ‘run equivalent’.

Table 1: Most valuable players in the India-NZ series (Oct 16-29, 2016) 

Runs (scored) ' No of 4s ' No of 6s ' 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 the overall performance of Indian cricketers in the 2016-17 season (like in the ICC rankings, we assume that a new season starts on 1 May every year), then Jasprit Bumrah still tops the list after his outstanding performance against Zimbabwe in the 3-match ODI series played in June 2016.

Table 2 summarizes the performance so far of all India’s ODI players in the 2016-17 season.

Table 2: Most valuable Indian ODI players in the 2016-17 season (8 matches so far)