IPL 2024: Will Virat Kohli Be The Next MVP?

Sometimes the MVPI table throws up intriguing situations: Four out of the top five in the table are left-handed batters.
Do left-handers truly enjoy an advantage in the IPL?

Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji present Rediff.com's Most Valuable Player Index of IPL 2024 after league stage.

IMAGE: Virat Kohli hits a six in the game against the Chennai Super Kings at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, May 18, 2024. Photograph: BCCI

With a MVPI of 818, Virat Kohli has a faint chance of overtaking the current MVPI topper Sunil Narine (MVPI of 970), especially if Kohli gets two very big scores; remember that MVPI can climb rapidly if you score big with a very high strike rate.

Sometimes the MVPI table throws up intriguing situations: Four out of the top five in the table are left-handed batters. Do left-handers truly enjoy an advantage in the IPL?

This has been much more a batter's IPL; even Narine (rank 1, MVPI 970, 15 wickets) is up there only because of his batting; otherwise, he might only have been in the top 20.

The only other bowlers or bowling all-rounders with 10 or more wickets visible in the top 50 are: Axar Patel (rank 13; MVPI 537, 11 wickets), Andre Russell (14, 513, 15), Jasprit Bumrah (17, 503, 20), Sam Curran (20, 495, 16), Harshal Patel (24, 478, 24), Pat Cummins (33, 402, 15), Varun Chakravarthy (35, 377, 18), Hardik Pandya (36, 374, 11), Kuldeep Yadav (43, 348, 16), Rashid Khan (44, 342, 10), Tushar Deshpande (46, 331, 17), Yash Dayal (48, 309, 15) and T Natarajan (49, 307, 17).

IMAGE: Sunil Narine in action in an IPL game. Photograph: BCCI

Finally, if we flag top batters with a strike rate below 150, we find Ruturaj Gaikwad (141.2), K L Rahul (136.1), B Sai Sudharsan (141.3), Marcus Stoinis (147.5), Cameron Green (145.2), Shubman Gill (147.4), Ishan Kishan (148.8), Hardik Pandya (143), Jos Buttler (140.8), Daryl Mitchell (142.6), and Shreyas Iyer (135.4).

They might want to review their attitude, even if their technique is blemishless, because they aren't currently capable of pushing their teams above a total score of 180.

Best Performing Players In IPL 2024 (after league stage ending 20.05.24)

Rank	Player	Team	From	Runs	Top Score	4s	6s	Strike Rate	Wickets	Economy Rate	Matches	MVPI	PVI(US$)
1	Sunil Narine	KKR	WI	461	109	46	32	184.4	15	6.6	12	970	745
2	Virat Kohli	RCB	IND	708	113	59	37	155.6	0	-	14	818	2209
3	Travis Head	SRH	AUS	533	102	61	31	201.1	0	-	12	669	1225
4	Nicholas Pooran	LSG	WI	499	75	35	36	178.2	0	-	14	632	3050
5	Abhishek Sharma	SRH	ND	467	75	35	41	209.4	0	9	13	630	1243
6	Sanju Samson	RR	IND	504	86	47	23	156.5	0	-	13	585	2883
7	Ruturaj Gaikwad	CSK	IND	583	108	58	18	141.2	0	-	14	577	1253
8	Riyan Parag	RR	IND	531	84	38	31	152.6	0	9	13	576	795
9	KL Rahul	LSG	IND	520	82	45	19	136.1	0	-	14	569	3600
10	Rishabh Pant	DC	IND	446	88	36	25	155.4	0	-	13	567	3400
11	Tristan Stubbs	DC	SA	378	71	24	26	190.9	3	7.5	14	567	106
12	Philip Salt	KKR	ENG	435	89	50	24	165.4	0	-	12	566	319
13	Axar Patel	DC	IND	235	66	19	10	131.3	11	7.7	14	537	2692
14	Andre Russell	KKR	WI	222	64	20	16	185	15	10.3	12	513	3288
15	Heinrich Klaasen	SRH	SA	381	80	15	33	183.2	0	-	13	513	1233
16	B Sai Sudharsan	GT	IND	527	103	48	16	141.3	0	-	12	504	48
17	Jasprit Bumrah	MI	IND	12	8	1	0	100	20	6.5	13	503	2874
18	Faf du Plessis	RCB	SA	421	64	45	20	163.8	0	-	14	499	1690
19	Jake Fraser-McGurk	DC	AUS	330	84	32	28	234	0	-	9	497	121
20	Sam Curran	PBKS	ENG	270	63	24	6	123.3	16	10.1	13	495	4503
21	Marcus Stoinis	LSG	AUS	388	124	39	16	147.5	4	9	14	487	2721
22	Ravindra Jadeja	CSK	AUS	267	57	22	8	142	8	7.9	14	486	3966
23	Tilak Varma	MI	IND	416	65	35	19	149.6	0	12	13	485	422
24	Harshal Patel	PBKS	IND	13	12	1	1	68.4	24	9.7	14	478	2962
25	Shashank Singh	PBKS	IND	354	68	28	21	164.7	1	5	14	468	51
26	Shivam Dube	CSK	IND	396	66	28	28	162.3	1	14	14	451	1069
27	Rajat Patidar	RCB	IND	361	55	19	31	179.6	0	-	14	439	55
28	Cameron Green	RCB	AUS	228	46	20	9	145.2	9	8.8	12	436	4836
29	Rohit Sharma	MI	IND	417	105	45	23	150	0	-	14	435	4432
30	Shubman Gill	GT	IND	426	104	37	15	147.4	0	-	12	425	1984
31	Dinesh Karthik	RCB	IND	315	83	26	22	195.7	0	-	14	425	1559
32	Suryakumar Yadav	MI	IND	345	102	36	18	167.5	0	-	11	405	2380
33	Pat Cummins	SRH	AUS	77	35	4	5	163.8	15	9.2	13	402	6144
34	Ishan Kishan	MI	IND	320	69	35	16	148.8	0	-	14	399	4605
35	Varun Chakravarthy	KKR	IND	0	0	0	0	-	18	8.3	12	377	3835
36	Hardik Pandya	MI	IND	216	46	17	11	143	11	10.8	14	374	4832
37	Yashasvi Jaiswal	RR	IND	348	104	42	13	152.6	0	-	13	372	1296
38	Abishek Porel	DC	IND	327	65	36	13	159.5	0	-	14	368	65
39	Jos Buttler	RR	ENG	359	107	36	12	140.8	0	-	11	363	3319
40	Jonny Bairstow	PBKS	ENG	298	108	33	14	152.8	0	-	11	361	2253
41	Daryl Mitchell	CSK	NZ	318	63	27	10	142.6	1	11.7	13	358	4712
42	Prabhsimran Singh	PBKS	IND	334	71	34	20	156.8	0	-	14	355	244
43	Kuldeep Yadav	DC	IND	47	35	2	0	114.6	16	8.7	11	348	692
44	Rashid Khan	GT	AFG	103	32	11	3	145.1	10	8.4	12	342	5284
45	Nithish Reddy	SRH	IND	276	76	13	20	151.6	3	11.5	10	342	70
46	Tushar Deshpande	CSK	IND	0	0	0	0	0	17	8.8	13	331	73
47	Shreyas Iyer	KKR	IND	287	50	28	10	135.4	0	-	12	319	4627
48	Yash Dayal	RCB	IND	0	0	0	0	-	15	8.9	13	309	1950
49	T Natarajan	SRH	IND	0	0	0	0	-	17	9.3	11	307	1570
50	Rachin Ravindra	CSK	NZ	222	61	22	12	160.9	0	3.5	10	305	711