Dhoni continues to be India's most valuable player

Mahendra Singh Dhoni continues to be India's most valuable player in Bangladesh. Gautam Gambhir's century takes him to the second place and young Piyush Chawla too seems capable of providing real value.

It is notable that the "seniors" Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan are in the bottom half at this stage. But these are still early days. We cannot conclude too much on the basis of two matches.

Rediff's player performance tracker will look at every player's performance, and after every match.

The points scheme used expects players to score a lot of runs - and quickly; take a lot of wickets - and economically; and field well by taking catches and effecting run outs.

A batsman gets a point for every run scored - and bonus points if the runs are scored at a strike rate of over 80 runs in 100 balls. He however loses points if his strike rate is below 80.

As an example, consider Gambhir's knock of 101 in 113 balls. With a strike rate of 80, Gambhir would've scored only 90.4 runs in 113 balls. But he scored (101.0 - 90.4) = 10.6 runs more. These are his bonus points! Gambhir final batting point tally was therefore 101 + 10.6 = 111.60. On the other hand, Dhoni took 54 balls to score 36. In 54 balls he should have scored 43.2 runs with a strike rate of 80. But he scored (43.2 – 36.0) = 7.2 less. So his final batting points were (36.0 - 7.2) = 28.8.

A bowler gets 24 points for every wicket, and bonus or negative points if his economy rate is less than or greater than 4.8 runs per over. Consider Piyush Chawla's bowling figures of 10-0-37-3. He gets 24*3 = 72 points for his 3 wickets and a bonus of (48-37) = 11 points for his superior economy rate. This gives a total of 83 bowling points.

 A fielder gets 5 points for every catch or stumping, and the full (or shared) 24 points for a run out. For example, Chawla and Dhoni participated in Tamim Iqbal's run out. So they got 12 points each for that dismissal.

Chawla's total batting + bowling + fielding points are therefore [1 + (1.0 – 2*0.8)] + [ 72 + 11] + [12] = 95.4.

This method has a few weaknesses. It doesn't distinguish between a batsman being out or not out, or a bowler taking a top batsman's or tail ender's wicket. It also doesn't take into account the runs saved by a fielder. But it still provides a reasonable estimate of an ODI player's performance.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct | St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total
1	Ind	Mahendra Singh Dhoni	127	160	1 | 2				0.5	2	163.00
2	Ind	Goutam Gambhir	122	130	1				0	2	145.00
3	Ind	Piyush Chawla	1	2	0	37	60	3	0.5	1	95.40
4	Ind	Dinesh Karthik	64	64	3				0	2	91.80
5	Ind	Virender Sehwag	51	47	2	46	48	1	0	2	90.80
6	Ind	Dinesh Mongia	34	41	0	106	108	3	0	2	87.60
7	Ind	Ramesh Powar	5	11	0	87	120	3	0	2	82.20
8	Ind	Zaheer Khan	9	4	0	86	84	2	1	2	68.00
9	Ind	Yuvraj Singh	25	31	0	40	42	2	0	2	66.80
10	Ind	Rahul Dravid	64	86	0				0	2	59.20
11	Ind	Sreesanth	0	0	0	14	30	0	0	1	10.00
12	Ind	Munaf Patel	0	0	0	65	84	0	0	2	2.20

To offer a comparative perspective, here are the points of the opposing Bangladesh players.

Rank	Country	Player	Runs	Balls	Ct | St	Rc	Bb	W	Run Outs	M	Total
1	Ban	Mohammad Rafique	24	26	2	106	120	3	0	2	99.20
2	Ban	Saqibul Hasan	55	76	1	83	96	2	0	2	96.00
3	Ban	Mashrafe Mortaza	42	22	0	57	60	1	0	1	81.40
4	Ban	Syed Rasel	4	7	0	115	114	4	0	2	74.60
5	Ban	Javed Omar	91	150	1				0	2	67.00
6	Ban	Aftab Ahmed	56	57	1	25	24	0	0	2	65.60
7	Ban	Abdur Razzak	9	11	2	94	114	2	0	2	64.40
8	Ban	Mohammad Ashraful	41	35	0				0	2	54.00
9	Ban	Tamim Iqbal	52	65	0				0	2	52.00
10	Ban	Mushfiqur Rahim	36	44	1 | 1				0	2	51.80
11	Ban	Shahadat Hossain	0	0	0	43	42	1	0	1	14.60
12	Ban	Habibul Bashar	43	90	0				0	2	14.00

 

Srinivas Bhogle and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore