Last year, Virender Sehwag [Images] was not even sure of his place in the one-day team. But the dashing opener seems to have learnt from his past mistakes and has started the 2008-09 season with a big bang.

After nine one-dayers of the current 2008-09 season, Sehwag is India's most valuable player (MVP) by a long mile.

Players who score a lot of runs and quickly; take the most wickets and bowl most economically; or take the most catches or make the most run outs, are seen to offer their teams the greatest "value".

• Statistics: Jayasuriya, Mendis emerge on top

India ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, quite like the team that he leads, is ranked second best.

Suresh Raina, currently fourth, has started the season very well too, but Rohit Sharma (10) has been a trifle disappointing and Yusuf Pathan (12) even more so.

Robin Uthappa too has started the season very poorly. One eagerly awaits the return of Sachin Tendulkar [Images]. He was India's most valuable ODI player last season.

Table 1: India's most valuable players of the 2008-09 season (9 matches so far)

Rank	Player	Runs	Balls	Bat Pts	Bb	Rc	W	Bowl Pts	Ct St	Run Outs	Field Pts	M	MVPI
1	Virender Sehwag	498	358	697.7	173	150	3	69.2	2	0	10.0	8	777
2	MS Dhoni	415	440	463.3	0	0	0	0.0	16	3.5	167.5	9	631
3	Gautam Gambhir [Images]	468	452	559.3	0	0	0	0.0	2	1	35.0	9	594
4	Suresh Raina	422	393	516.5	6	11	0	-6.0	5	1	50.0	9	561
5	Yuvraj Singh [Images]	294	293	343.8	96	87	1	18.0	0	0	0.0	8	362
6	RP Singh	0	1	-0.8	318	285	10	230.0	1	2	55.0	6	284
7	Piyush Chawla [Images]	2	7	-1.8	322	295	11	248.3	1	0	5.0	6	252
8	Irfan Pathan [Images]	86	84	102.0	328	360	7	88.3	0	0	0.0	6	190
9	Praveen Kumar	12	16	10.7	351	296	6	146.5	2	0.5	22.5	7	180
10	Rohit Sharma	175	257	135.8	24	15	0	5.0	3	0.5	27.5	9	168
11	Ishant Sharma	8	19	0.2	396	372	8	158.0	2	0	10.0	7	168
12	Yusuf Pathan	28	41	21.8	234	193	3	77.0	4	0.5	32.5	7	131
13	Pragyan Ojha	6	17	-2.2	180	136	3	89.0	3	0	15.0	3	102
14	Manpreet Gony	0	0	0.0	94	76	2	52.3	0	0	0.0	2	52
15	Robin Uthappa	37	61	23.2	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	3	23

Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points) = 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.

Sanath Jayasuriya [Images], with a MVPI of 574, was the most valuable player of the Asia Cup, followed closely by Sehwag (573) and Ajantha Mendis (570). The man of the series had to be one among this trio, and it proved to be the mysterious Mendis.

Table 2: The 50 most valuable players of the Asia Cup:

Rank	Player	Team	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	Bat Pts	Bb	Rc	W	Eco	Bowl Pts	Ct St	Run Outs	Field Pts	M	MVPI
1	S Jayasuriya	SL	378	297	127.3	508.5	72	62	2	5.2	48.0	1	0.5	17.5	5	574
2	V Sehwag	IND	348	242	143.8	494.3	113	91	3	4.8	78.2	0	0	0	5	573
3	Ajantha Mendis	SL	46	29	158.6	67.8	252	145	17	3.5	490.0	0	0.5	12.5	5	570
4	Suresh Raina	IND	372	337	110.4	463.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	3	1	40	6	503
5	MS Dhoni	IND	327	358	91.3	355.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	11	2	105	6	461
6	K Sangakkara	SL	345	348	99.1	400.0	0	0	0	-	0.0	9	0.5	57.5	6	458
7	Younis Khan	PAK	296	302	98.0	340.3	31	34	1	6.6	16.8	4	0	20	5	377
8	M Muralitharan	SL	8	7	114.3	10.2	288	184	11	3.8	331.0	2	0	10	5	351
9	G Gambhir	IND	259	256	101.2	304.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	2	1	35	6	340
10	Alok Kapali	BAN	172	175	98.3	198.2	166	165	5	6.0	98.3	3	0	15	5	312
11	Sohail Tanvir [Images]	PAK	71	67	106.0	86.2	252	241	10	5.7	219.0	0	0	0	5	305
12	Shoaib Malik [Images]	PAK	212	230	92.2	232.3	108	82	1	4.6	33.0	1	0	5	4	270
13	C Kapugedera	SL	209	226	92.5	229.7	30	25	0	5.0	0.0	0	1.5	37.5	6	267
14	Raqibul Hasan	BAN	195	218	89.4	208.3	0	0	0	-	0.0	4	1	45	5	253
15	Iftikhar Anjum	PAK	10	7	142.9	14.2	262	210	9	4.8	233.3	1	0	5	5	253
16	Misbah-ul-Haq	PAK	179	166	107.8	219.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	5	0	25	5	245
17	N Kulasekara	SL	92	101	91.1	99.8	260	216	5	5.0	125.7	1	0	5	6	231
18	M Jayawardene	SL	177	197	89.8	189.8	0	0	0	-	0.0	5	0	25	6	215
19	Amjad Ali	UAE	96	97	99.0	111.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	5	3	100	2	211
20	RP Singh	IND	0	1	0.0	-0.8	258	239	7	5.6	151.0	1	2	55	5	205
21	T Dilshan	SL	134	159	84.3	135.5	54	24	1	2.7	46.0	3	0	15	6	197
22	Abdur Razzak	BAN	38	52	73.1	32.7	278	247	7	5.3	159.7	0	0	0	5	192
23	Yuvraj Singh	IND	157	147	106.8	191.5	36	37	0	6.2	-7.0	0	0	0	5	185
24	Mohd Ashraful	BAN	165	201	82.1	162.5	0	0	0	-	0.0	3	0	15	5	178
25	Chaminda Vaas [Images]	SL	43	71	60.6	26.8	180	136	5	4.5	139.0	0	0	0	4	166
26	Zahid Shah	UAE	11	20	55.0	5.3	120	98	6	4.9	152.0	0	0	0	2	157
27	Chamara Silva	SL	126	153	82.4	124.5	24	21	1	5.3	24.0	1	0	5	6	154
28	Thilan Thushara	SL	76	66	115.2	97.0	210	200	3	5.7	50.0	0	0	0	5	147
29	Piyush Chawla	IND	0	0	-	0.0	150	128	6	5.1	147.0	0	0	0	3	147
30	Nasir Jamshed	PAK	105	99	106.1	127.5	0	0	0	-	0.0	1	0.5	17.5	2	145
31	Tamim Iqbal	BAN	157	229	68.6	123.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	4	0	20	5	143
32	Bazid Khan	PAK	0	0	-	0.0	108	90	5	5.0	125.0	1	0	5	2	130
33	Salman Butt [Images]	PAK	127	161	78.9	119.8	6	13	0	13.0	-8.0	2	0	10	5	122
34	Ishant Sharma	IND	8	18	44.4	1.0	300	287	6	5.7	113.0	1	0	5	5	119
35	Khurram Khan	UAE	80	88	90.9	86.7	120	133	2	6.7	17.0	3	0	15	2	119
36	Mohd Yousuf	PAK	98	100	98.0	112.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	0	0	0	5	113
37	Najeeb Amar	HKN	34	41	82.9	33.8	120	75	2	3.8	75.0	0	0	0	2	109
38	Rohit Sharma	IND	116	160	72.5	98.7	24	15	0	3.8	5.0	1	0	5	6	109
39	Nadeem Ahmed	HKN	2	15	13.3	-8.5	102	103	4	6.1	82.0	2	1	35	2	109
40	Pragyan Ojha	IND	6	17	35.3	-2.2	180	136	3	4.5	89.0	3	0	15	3	102
41	Saeed Ajmal	PAK	0	0	-	0.0	110	66	3	3.6	100.7	0	0	0	2	101
42	M Rahim	BAN	105	148	70.9	86.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	2	0	10	5	97
43	S Hossain	BAN	0	6	0.0	-5.0	209	232	6	6.7	92.2	1	0	5	5	92
44	Mohd Tauqir	UAE	27	36	75.0	24.0	78	53	2	4.1	62.0	1	0	5	2	91
45	M Mortaza	BAN	40	70	57.1	21.7	234	242	4	6.2	53.0	2	0	10	5	85
46	Shahid Afridi [Images]	PAK	13	15	86.7	13.5	228	201	3	5.3	64.0	1	0	5	4	83
47	Sarfraz Ahmed	PAK	26	46	56.5	13.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	5	1.5	62.5	5	76
48	Mahmudullah	BAN	57	124	46.0	10.7	216	193	3	5.4	62.0	0	0	0	5	73
49	M Udawatte	SL	67	74	90.5	72.3	0	0	0	-	0.0	0	0	0	1	72
50	Yusuf Pathan	IND	0	4	0.0	-3.3	198	162	2	4.9	53.0	2	0.5	22.5	4	72

Runs (scored) | Balls (taken) | Bat-pts: Batting points | | Rc: Runs conceded | Bb: Balls bowled | W: Wickets taken | Bowl-pts: Bowling points | Ct/St: Catches taken / Stumpings | Run outs (participated) | Field-pts: fielding points | M: Matches played | Total (points) = 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.

Srinivas Bhogle, Purnendu Maji and Arthur D'Silva work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] [Get Quote] [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.