De Villiers well-placed atop MVP standings at World Cup, Kohli 24th

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji figure out who are the Most Valuable Players after the league phase of the ICC World Cup for Rediff.com

AB de Villiers

Image: South Africa Captain A B de Villiers. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

South Africa Captain A B de Villiers is the most valuable player at the end of the league phase of the 2015 World Cup with a Most Valuable Player Index value of 788 'runs'.

The Sri Lankans, Kumar Sangakkara (MVPI: 686) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (MVPI: 599), are respectively second and third in the MVPI table.

Pacer Mohammad Shami, who has had an excellent World Cup so far, is the best placed Indian at 13th position with a MVPI of 423 having picked up 15 wickets so far.

India's star batsman Virat Kohli, who started the tournament with a century against Pakistan but has since failed to hit a half-century in five innings, lies far behind at 24th with a MVPI of 365.

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’.

Table: Most valuable players so far in 2015 World Cup (at the end of the league phase; March 15, 2015)

Rank	Player	Team	Runs	4s	6s	Strike Rate	W	Eco	Ct St	Run Outs	M	MVPI
1	A B de Villiers	SA	417	35	20	144.3	4	5.9	6	3	6	788
2	Kumar Sangakkara	SL	496	54	7	119.5	0	0.0	8	0	6	686
3	Tillakaratne Dilshan	SL	395	46	3	98.3	5	4.9	3	0	6	599
4	Brendan Taylor	ZIM	433	43	12	106.9	0	0.0	4	1	6	574
5	Sean Williams	ZIM	339	29	6	109.0	7	6.4	4	0	6	553
6	Daniel Vettori	NZ	26	2	1	152.9	13	3.2	5	0	6	487
7	Chris Gayle	WI	279	15	18	108.6	5	5.4	3	0	5	477
8	Glenn Maxwell	AUS	257	27	11	190.4	3	6.3	0	1	5	477
9	Corey Anderson	NZ	158	15	6	114.5	10	4.8	2	0	6	466
10	Mitchell Starc	AUS	0	0	0	0.0	16	3.7	3	0	5	462
11	Wahab Riaz	PAK	67	7	2	106.3	14	5.5	4	1	6	448
12	Shakib Al Hasan	BAN	186	18	3	106.3	7	5.0	1	1	5	430
13	Mohammed Shami	IND	7	1	0	87.5	15	4.4	3	0	5	423
14	Trent Boult	NZ	0	0	0	0.0	15	4.2	0	0	6	419
15	Brendon McCullum	NZ	257	35	12	187.6	0	0.0	2	0	6	410
16	Mushfiqur Rahim	BAN	271	24	5	113.4	0	0.0	5	1.5	5	405
17	Shikhar Dhawan	IND	337	39	8	94.1	0	0.0	5	0	6	401
18	David Miller	SA	275	15	11	127.9	0	0.0	1	0.5	6	388
19	Morne Morkel	SA	8	1	0	61.5	13	4.1	2	0	6	388
20	Hashim Amla	SA	307	32	5	98.1	0	0.0	6	0	6	383
21	David Warner	AUS	264	27	8	125.1	0	0.0	5	0	5	377
22	Angelo Mathews	SL	176	10	7	95.1	6	5.8	1	2	6	374
23	Jerome Taylor	WI	26	3	0	72.2	14	5.1	1	0	6	373
24	Virat Kohli	IND	301	29	1	85.3	0	0.0	4	1.5	6	365
26	Mahmudullah	BAN	344	28	6	82.9	1	5.7	2	0	5	361
25	Josh Davey	SCOT	55	5	0	62.5	15	6.2	2	0	6	361
27	Tim Southee	NZ	12	1	1	171.4	13	4.8	1	0	6	358
28	Shaiman Anwar	UAE	311	34	4	91.5	0	6.0	1	0.5	6	356
29	Ravichandran Ashwin	IND	22	0	0	57.9	12	4.5	1	0	6	344
30	Jason Holder	WI	113	7	7	100.9	9	5.5	2	0	6	343
31	Andre Russell	WI	84	6	7	186.7	9	5.6	2	0	6	339
32	Misbah-ul-Haq	PAK	316	24	5	77.6	0	0.0	3	1	6	333
33	Suresh Raina	IND	212	17	7	111.6	1	4.1	6	0	6	332
35	Moeen Ali	ENG	192	24	5	105.5	4	5.3	0	0	5	321
34	Imran Tahir	SA	8	1	0	50.0	11	4.4	1	0	6	321
36	Umesh Yadav	IND	0	0	0	0.0	10	4.7	8	0.5	6	316
37	Mohit Sharma	IND	0	0	0	0.0	10	4.4	2	1	6	312
38	Ed Joyce	IRL	246	23	5	98.4	0	0.0	3	0	6	299
40	Faf du Plessis	SA	277	21	3	89.1	0	7.5	2	0	5	295
39	Amjad Javed	UAE	170	21	4	87.2	7	6.5	3	0	6	295
41	Martin Guptill	NZ	261	31	3	90.6	0	0.0	1	0	6	287
42	Lahiru Thirimanne	SL	261	24	2	84.7	0	0.0	4	0	6	285
43	Richie Berrington	SCOT	139	9	5	76.0	7	5.7	0	0	6	284
44	MS Dhoni	IND	166	15	4	106.4	0	0.0	11	1	6	282
45	Andy Balbirnie	IRL	236	20	4	90.8	0	0.0	0	0.5	6	268
46	Rilee Rossouw	SA	171	21	4	134.6	0	6.5	7	0	4	268
47	Lasith Malinga	SL	1	0	0	16.7	11	5.4	3	0	6	264
48	Marlon Samuels	WI	203	17	4	71.7	3	4.7	2	0	6	263
49	Dale Steyn	SA	17	3	0	70.8	9	4.8	2	0	6	262
50	Aaron Finch	AUS	197	19	5	110.7	0	0.0	3	0	5	261
51	Kyle Coetzer	SCOT	253	33	4	89.7	0	7.4	1	0	6	257
52	Shapoor Zadran	AFG	17	2	0	81.0	10	5.2	0	0	6	257
53	Niall O'Brien	IRL	199	23	3	109.3	0	0.0	2	0	6	256
54	Joe Root	ENG	202	19	2	84.2	1	6.2	7	0	6	253
55	Mohammad Naveed	UAE	73	6	5	123.7	8	6.1	1	0	6	247
56	Sohail Khan	PAK	17	1	0	45.9	11	5.7	1	0	6	246
57	Ian Bell	ENG	262	27	0	77.3	0	0.0	0	0	6	242
58	Jos Buttler	ENG	141	17	2	135.6	0	0.0	8	0	6	235
59	Kyle Abbott	SA	12	2	0	63.2	8	4.1	1	0	3	235
60	William Porterfield	IRL	275	22	3	67.2	0	0.0	5	0	6	234
61	Umar Akmal	PAK	144	15	2	80.4	0	0.0	11	1.5	6	231
62	Soumya Sarkar	BAN	144	20	2	96.0	0	4.6	7	1	5	226
64	Thisara Perera	SL	62	8	1	155.0	6	6.7	5	1	5	223
63	Tendai Chatara	ZIM	23	2	0	65.7	10	5.7	0	0	6	223
65	Jean-Paul Duminy	SA	156	12	3	100.0	2	6.2	3	0	4	222
66	Paul Stirling	IRL	159	17	5	100.0	2	5.7	2	0	6	221
67	Sikandar Raza	ZIM	125	15	4	99.2	2	4.9	2	0.5	6	221
69	Michael Clarke	AUS	127	14	2	95.5	1	2.8	3	1	4	219
68	Alex Cusack	IRL	19	1	0	82.6	7	4.6	2	0	4	219
70	Brad Haddin	AUS	119	15	4	163.0	0	0.0	8	0	5	217
71	Sabbir Rahman	BAN	152	16	5	104.8	1	6.5	3	0.5	5	212
72	Chris Woakes	ENG	90	6	0	95.7	5	6.2	1	1	5	211
73	Mohammad Irfan	PAK	4	0	0	21.1	8	4.5	0	0	5	211
74	Rahat Ali	PAK	1	0	0	16.7	7	4.1	0	0	4	207
75	Ahmed Shehzad	PAK	222	24	1	74.0	0	0.0	2	0	6	204
76	Shahid Afridi	PAK	93	7	5	129.2	2	4.8	3	0	6	204
77	Hamid Hassan	AFG	38	5	0	44.2	8	5.1	1	0	6	203
78	Mitchell Johnson	AUS	4	0	0	36.4	9	5.9	2	0	5	202
79	Sarfraz Ahmed	PAK	150	11	3	86.7	0	0.0	6	0.5	2	198
80	Lendl Simmons	WI	161	13	7	104.5	0	12.0	2	0	6	197
81	Mashrafe Mortaza	BAN	27	5	0	135.0	6	4.9	1	0	4	196
82	Kane Williamson	NZ	183	21	2	82.8	0	7.0	3	0	6	195
83	Mohammad Nabi	AFG	90	8	2	78.3	3	5.7	3	2	6	192
84	Steven Smith	AUS	176	16	2	85.4	0	9.5	4	0	5	191
85	Gary Wilson	IRL	141	15	1	103.7	0	0.0	4	0	6	189
86	Craig Ervine	ZIM	159	12	5	88.3	0	0.0	4	0	6	188
87	Manjula Guruge	UAE	14	1	0	53.8	7	4.8	0	0	4	188
88	Ajinkya Rahane	IND	145	18	3	98.6	0	0.0	3	0	6	183
89	Haris Sohail	PAK	136	10	1	72.3	3	6.6	4	0	5	179
91	Sohaib Maqsood	PAK	124	11	3	93.9	1	4.0	1	0	6	174
90	Ravindra Jadeja	IND	18	2	0	56.3	7	5.3	1	0	6	174
92	Matt Machan	SCOT	186	21	2	80.9	1	7.8	1	0	6	173
93	Alasdair Evans	SCOT	38	5	0	66.7	6	5.4	0	0	4	164
94	Darren Sammy	WI	150	14	5	93.2	1	6.7	1	0	6	162
95	Dwayne Smith	WI	93	13	2	80.2	1	3.9	3	1	6	162
97	Shane Watson	AUS	114	13	2	120.0	2	7.8	0	0	4	162
96	Rohit Sharma	IND	159	18	4	85.5	0	7.0	1	0	6	162
98	Grant Elliott	NZ	116	13	1	90.6	2	8.4	2	0	6	161
99	Kevin O'Brien	IRL	131	16	3	100.0	6	8.2	3	0	6	159
100	James Taylor	ENG	149	12	3	88.7	0	0.0	0	0	6	158

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.

Some other interesting stats:

The top 10 run-getters in the group stage:

Kumar Sangakkara	SL	496
Brendan Taylor	ZIM	433
A B de Villiers	SA	417
Tillakaratne Dilshan	SL	395
Mahmudullah	BAN	344
Sean Williams	ZIM	339
Shikhar Dhawan	IND	337
Misbah-ul-Haq	PAK	316
Shaiman Anwar	UAE	311
Hashim Amla	SA	307

The top 10 wicket-takers in the group stage:

Mitchell Starc	AUS	16
Josh Davey	SCOT	15
Mohammed Shami	IND	15
Trent Boult	NZ	15
Wahab Riaz	PAK	14
Jerome Taylor	WI	14
Daniel Vettori	NZ	13
Tim Southee	NZ	13
Morne Morkel	SA	13
Ravichandran Ashwin	IND	12

Most fours in the group stage:

Kumar Sangakkara	SL	54
Tillakaratne Dilshan	SL	46
Brendan Taylor	ZIM	43
Shikhar Dhawan	IND	39
A B de Villiers	SA	35
Brendon McCullum	NZ	35
Shaiman Anwar	UAE	34
Kyle Coetzer	SCOT	33
Hashim Amla	SA	32
Martin Guptill	NZ	31

Most sixes in the group stage: (Notice the poor overlap between scorers of 4s and 6s)

A B de Villiers	SA	20
Chris Gayle	WI	18
Brendan Taylor	ZIM	12
Brendon McCullum	NZ	12
Glenn Maxwell	AUS	11
David Miller	SA	11
Shikhar Dhawan	IND	8
David Warner	AUS	8

The top 10 strike rates in the group stage (for batsmen scoring over 200 runs):

Glenn Maxwell	AUS	257	190.4
Brendon McCullum	NZ	257	187.6
A B de Villiers	SA	417	144.3
David Miller	SA	275	127.9
David Warner	AUS	264	125.1
Kumar Sangakkara	SL	496	119.5
Mushfiqur Rahim	BAN	271	113.4
Suresh Raina	IND	212	111.6
Sean Williams	ZIM	339	109.0
Chris Gayle	WI	279	108.6

The top 10 economy rates in the group stage (for bowlers taking 5 or more wickets):

Daniel Vettori	NZ	13	3.2
Mitchell Starc	AUS	16	3.7
Kyle Abbott	SA	8	4.1
Morne Morkel	SA	13	4.1
Rahat Ali	PAK	7	4.1
Trent Boult	NZ	15	4.2
Mohammed Shami	IND	15	4.4
Imran Tahir	SA	11	4.4
Mohit Sharma	IND	10	4.4
Ravichandran Ashwin	IND	12	4.5