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World Cup MVP race: Afridi surges ahead

March 24, 2011 14:53 IST

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji compile a list of the most valuable players in the 2011 World Cup so far.

It will  be hard to catch up with Afridi now! After another incredible bowling performance on Wednesday at Mirpur (9.3-1-30-4), Afridi is now over 200 'runs' clear of Yuvraj Singh in the MVPI list.

Other Pakistani players too have climbed higher on the list. Umar Gul is at No. 5 (MVPI of 462), Mohammad Hafeez is at No. 13 (413) and Abdul Razzaq (258) is at No. 50.

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But there's little doubt that Afridi is almost single-handedly propelling this Pakistani surge with Umar Gul giving him good company. Pakistan must pray that this duo performs on their next big day at Mohali.

- World Cup 2011 coverage

Our list is based on the idea of the most valuable player index (MVPI) which is calculated by adding together a player's batting, bowling and fielding index.

The batting index is based on a combination of runs scored and strike rate; the bowling index uses a combination of the number of wickets taken and the economy rate; and the fielding index is based on the number of catches taken and the fielder's participation in run-out dismissals.

Most valuable players in the 2011 World Cup so far (after 43 matches, as on 23.3.2011)

Player Name

Team

6s

4s

Runs

Strike Rate

W

Eco

M

MVPI

1

Shahid Afridi

PAK

1

8

65

130.0

21

3.5

7

756

2

Yuvraj Singh

IND

3

29

284

86.1

9

5.0

6

526

3

Tillakaratne Dilshan

SL

1

38

286

97.3

5

3.5

6

500

4

Robin Peterson

SA

1

6

43

134.4

14

4.0

6

480

5

Umar Gul

PAK

1

3

36

124.1

14

3.9

7

462

6

Ryan ten Doeschate

NED

5

26

307

89.2

7

6.2

6

450

7

Kumar Sangakkara

SL

4

32

363

88.8

0

--

6

448

8

Tim Southee

NZ

0

1

14

77.8

14

4.0

6

444

9

Virender Sehwag

IND

7

38

327

125.3

0

--

5

442

10

Graeme Swann

ENG

1

7

60

120.0

12

4.2

6

430

11

Zaheer Khan

IND

0

1

9

81.8

15

4.3

6

424

12

AB de Villiers

SA

7

27

318

111.2

0

--

4

415

13

Mohammad Hafeez

PAK

1

25

172

83.5

7

3.5

7

413

14

Shakib Al Hasan

BAN

0

14

142

71.0

8

4.8

6

386

15

Sachin Tendulkar

IND

8

32

326

99.7

0

--

6

385

16

Shane Watson

AUS

7

27

265

96.0

2

4.4

6

384

17

Andrew Strauss

ENG

3

34

329

97.3

0

--

6

381

18

Kevin O'Brien

IRE

9

19

198

125.3

4

6.8

6

374

19

Brett Lee

AUS

0

1

5

62.5

12

4.2

6

362

20

Darren Sammy

WI

3

4

54

110.2

9

4.5

7

356

21

Muttiah Muralitharan

SL

1

0

7

175.0

11

3.5

6

355

22

Kieron Pollard

WI

11

14

180

150.0

2

4.9

7

355

23

Kemar Roach

WI

0

2

19

35.8

13

4.2

6

354

24

Imran Tahir

SA

0

0

1

100.0

12

3.9

4

346

25

Jonathan Trott

ENG

0

26

336

82.6

0

--

6

345

26

Harvir Baidwan

CAN

0

6

53

67.1

13

5.6

6

343

27

John Mooney

IRE

0

8

58

64.4

10

5.8

6

342

28

Mitchell Johnson

AUS

0

3

19

146.2

10

3.8

6

340

29

Paul Stirling

IRE

3

23

157

122.7

4

4.5

6

339

30

Ray Price

ZIM

0

4

37

62.7

9

3.4

6

336

31

Brendon McCullum

NZ

5

27

239

94.8

0

--

6

333

32

Brad Haddin

AUS

4

34

279

77.7

0

--

6

331

33

Jacques Kallis

SA

1

15

178

76.1

5

4.3

6

329

34

Jean-Paul Duminy

SA

6

12

221

101.8

2

5.1

6

325

35

Hashim Amla

SA

1

24

299

86.9

0

--

6

316

36

Ross Taylor

NZ

13

18

245

100.0

0

--

6

311

37

Sulieman Benn

WI

0

1

16

45.7

12

5.0

6

304

38

Tim Bresnan

ENG

1

2

41

82.0

9

4.9

6

300

39

Dale Steyn

SA

0

3

20

64.5

10

4.1

5

300

40

Jacob Oram

NZ

3

3

45

125.0

8

4.7

4

294

41

Michael Clarke

AUS

1

20

225

94.9

0

4.2

6

282

42

Shaun Tait

AUS

0

0

0

0.0

10

4.7

6

280

43

Upul Tharanga

SL

0

36

261

87.3

0

--

6

278

44

Prosper Utseya

ZIM

1

9

123

65.4

6

4.3

6

273

45

Devon Smith

WI

2

32

300

76.7

0

6.0

7

273

46

George Dockrell

IRE

0

6

42

79.2

7

4.4

6

269

47

Mahela Jayawardene

SL

1

19

200

93.9

0

--

6

265

48

Virat Kohli

IND

2

19

214

89.2

0

--

6

263

49

Graeme Cremer

ZIM

0

8

99

68.8

6

4.6

6

259

50

Abdul Razzaq

PAK

0

13

101

87.1

5

4.2

7

258