Discover how Vaibhav Sooryavanshi dominated the 2026 IPL season, not only securing the Most Valuable Player title with a record-breaking MVPI of 1071 but also delivering an astonishing 30-50 times return on investment for the Rajasthan Royals.
Purnendu Maji and Srinivas Bhogle present Rediff's Most Valuable Player Index of IPL 2026.
Key Points
- Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was the Most Valuable Player of the 2026 IPL with an MVPI of 1071, significantly outperforming Shubman Gill.
- Sooryavanshi's phenomenal strike rate of 236 was a crucial factor in his high MVPI.
- He is only the third IPL player to cross an MVPI of 1000 in a single season, placing him among legends like Virat Kohli and Sunil Narine.
- Sooryavanshi delivered exceptional value for Rajasthan Royals, costing just $110 per 'run equivalent' and providing a 30-50 times return on investment.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was the Most Valuable Player of IPL 2026 by a long mile.
With an MVPI of 1071, he was 172 'runs' ahead of second-placed Shubman Gill (MVPI of 899).
Gill scored just 44 runs less than Sooryavanshi, but the big MVPI difference is because of Sooryavanshi's phenomenal strike rate of 236.
To judge the enormity of Sooryavanshi's achievement, he's only the third IPL player to cross a MVPI of 1000 in one IPL season.
His MVPI of 1071 is just behind Virat Kohli's all-time high of 1128 in 2016, and just ahead of Sunil Narine who used his all-rounder prowess in 2024 to reach 1055.
IPL MVPI toppers over the years are listed in Table 2.
Unmatched Value for Rajasthan Royals
It is also fascinating to look at the Paisa Vasool (or Player Value) Index for the top 50 players.
Sooryavanshi cost Rajasthan Royals just $110 for every 'run equivalent' he contributed at his price of about $120,000 (we've converted from INR to US$ to cut down digits).
Some elementary arithmetic will show that the return on this investment was at least 30 to 50 times more. Never was so little paid by an IPL franchise for so much.
IPL 2026: Best Performing Players
| Rank | Player | Team | From | Runs | Strike Rate | Wickets | Economy Rate | Games | MVPI | PVI(US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | RR | IND | 776 | 235.9 | 0 | - | 16 | 1071 | 110 |
| 2 | Shubman Gill | GT | IND | 732 | 163 | 0 | - | 16 | 899 | 1974 |
| 3 | Ishan Kishan | SRH | IND | 602 | 182.4 | 0 | - | 15 | 805 | 1503 |
| 4 | Sai Sudharsan | GT | IND | 722 | 158 | 0 | - | 17 | 801 | 1141 |
| 5 | Virat Kohli | RCB | IND | 675 | 165.8 | 0 | - | 16 | 794 | 2844 |
| 6 | Abhishek Sharma | SRH | ND | 563 | 204.7 | 0 | 10.1 | 15 | 768 | 1960 |
| 7 | Heinrich Klaasen | SRH | SA | 624 | 160 | 0 | - | 15 | 741 | 3338 |
| 8 | Jos Buttler | GT | ENG | 526 | 152.5 | 0 | - | 17 | 718 | 2359 |
| 9 | KL Rahul | DC | IND | 593 | 174.4 | 0 | - | 14 | 703 | 2141 |
| 10 | Dhruv Jurel | RR | IND | 515 | 154.7 | 0 | - | 16 | 681 | 2211 |
| 11 | Rajat Patidar | RCB | IND | 501 | 192.7 | 0 | - | 15 | 672 | 1760 |
| 12 | Mitchell Marsh | LSG | AUS | 563 | 163.2 | 0 | - | 13 | 633 | 578 |
| 13 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar | RCB | IND | 34 | 130.8 | 28 | 8 | 16 | 614 | 1883 |
| 14 | Prabhsimran Singh | PBKS | IND | 510 | 168.9 | 0 | - | 14 | 612 | 703 |
| 15 | Devdutt Padikkal | RCB | IND | 464 | 168.7 | 0 | - | 16 | 603 | 357 |
| 16 | Shreyas Iyer | PBKS | IND | 498 | 168.8 | 0 | - | 14 | 602 | 4778 |
| 17 | Ryan Rickelton | MI | SA | 448 | 188.2 | 0 | - | 12 | 593 | 181 |
| 18 | Cooper Connolly | PBKS | AUS | 491 | 163.1 | 0 | - | 14 | 573 | 563 |
| 19 | Sanju Samson | CSK | IND | 477 | 165.6 | 0 | - | 14 | 567 | 3414 |
| 20 | Jofra Archer | RR | ENG | 64 | 136.2 | 25 | 9.3 | 16 | 564 | 2383 |
| 21 | Kagiso Rabada | GT | SA | 47 | 123.7 | 29 | 9.7 | 17 | 557 | 2075 |
| 22 | Krunal Pandya | RCB | IND | 226 | 145.8 | 14 | 8.4 | 16 | 513 | 1205 |
| 2 3 | Nitish Kumar Reddy | SRH | IND | 302 | 171.6 | 8 | 10.4 | 14 | 500 | 1290 |
| 24 | Priyansh Arya | PBKS | IND | 364 | 211.6 | 0 | - | 14 | 482 | 848 |
| 25 | Travis Head | SRH | AUS | 410 | 170.1 | 1 | 7 | 15 | 479 | 3143 |
| 26 | Yashasvi Jaiswal | RR | IND | 427 | 152.5 | 0 | - | 16 | 476 | 4066 |
| 27 | Jason Holder | GT | WI | 65 | 125 | 17 | 7.6 | 11 | 461 | 1633 |
| 28 | Finn Allen | KKR | NZ | 349 | 214.1 | 0 | - | 11 | 460 | 468 |
| 29 | Angkrish Raghuvanshi | KKR | IND | 422 | 146.5 | 0 | - | 13 | 457 | 706 |
| 30 | Ravindra Jadeja | RR | AUS | 266 | 135 | 10 | 8.4 | 14 | 452 | 3330 |
| 32 | Donovan Ferreira | RR | SA | 317 | 179.1 | 1 | 13.7 | 15 | 451 | 238 |
| 31 | Cameron Green | KKR | AUS | 322 | 145.7 | 7 | 10.6 | 14 | 451 | 6008 |
| 33 | Sunil Narine | KKR | WI | 40 | 125 | 15 | 6.6 | 13 | 440 | 2933 |
| 35 | Washington Sundar | GT | IND | 377 | 150.2 | 1 | 9.2 | 17 | 430 | 800 |
| 34 | Rashid Khan | GT | AFG | 50 | 122 | 21 | 9.1 | 17 | 430 | 4501 |
| 36 | Axar Patel | DC | IND | 173 | 131.1 | 11 | 8.2 | 14 | 424 | 4184 |
| 37 | Tilak Varma | MI | IND | 359 | 145.9 | 0 | - | 14 | 421 | 2043 |
| 38 | Jamie Overton | CSK | ENG | 136 | 158.1 | 14 | 8.9 | 10 | 404 | 3992 |
| 39 | Eshan Malinga | SRH | SA | 7 | 41.2 | 20 | 9.3 | 15 | 391 | 330 |
| 40 | Riyan Parag | RR | IND | 309 | 157.7 | 2 | 9.5 | 14 | 382 | 3941 |
| 41 | Anshul Kamboj | CSK | IND | 58 | 152.6 | 21 | 10.5 | 14 | 381 | 9596 |
| 42 | Tim David | RCB | AUS | 305 | 188.3 | 0 | 18 | 16 | 376 | 858 |
| 43 | Naman Dhir | MI | IND | 318 | 147.2 | 0 | - | 14 | 366 | 1542 |
| 44 | Rishabh Pant | LSG | IND | 312 | 138.1 | 0 | - | 14 | 363 | 7998 |
| 45 | Rinku Singh | KKR | IND | 295 | 149 | 0 | - | 14 | 362 | 3861 |
| 46 | Mohammed Siraj | GT | IND | 5 | 31.3 | 19 | 9.1 | 17 | 348 | 3785 |
| 47 | Ajinkya Rahane | KKR | IND | 335 | 135.1 | 0 | - | 14 | 346 | 466 |
| 48 | Rasikh Salam | RCB | IND | 3 | 150 | 19 | 9.5 | 12 | 344 | 1875 |
| 49 | Ruturaj Gaikwad | CSK | IND | 337 | 123.4 | 0 | - | 14 | 340 | 5693 |
| 50 | Kartik Tyagi | KKR | IND | 11 | 110 | 18 | 9.8 | 14 | 325 | 99 |
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.
MVPI Toppers, 2028 To 2026
| Year | Player | Team | MVPI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Sanath Jayasuriya | MI | 729 |
| 2009 | Adam Gilchrist | DCh | 753 |
| 2010 | Suresh Raina | CSK | 784 |
| 2011 | Chris Gayle | RCB | 953 |
| 2012 | Chris Gayle | RCB | 837 |
| 2013 | Chris Gayle | RCB | 864 |
| 2014 | Robin Uthappa | KKR | 777 |
| 2015 | Dwayne Bravo | CSK | 698 |
| 2016 | Virat Kohli | RCB | 1128 |
| 2017 | David Warner | SRH | 727 |
| 2018 | Rishabh Pant | DD | 897 |
| 2019 | Andre Russell | KKR | 834 |
| 2020 | Jofra Archer | RR | 666 |
| 2021 | Harshal Patel | RCB | 703 |
| 2022 | Jos Buttler | RR | 894 |
| 2023 | Shubman Gill | GT | 970 |
| 2024 | Sunil Narine | KKR | 1055 |
| 2025 | Sai Sudharsan | GT | 837 |
| 2026 | Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | RR | 1071 |
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff
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