Sachin Tendulkar is just a whisker ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the race to be India's most valuable player (MVP) of the 2007-08 ODI season. The battle between India's two best ODI players will resume when the India-Australia-Sri Lanka triangular series starts in February 2008.
Table 1: India's most valuable players of the 2007-08 season (26 matches so far)
| Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 1115 | 1352 | 1148 | 247 | 234 | 5 | 60.2 | 5 | 0.5 | 37 | 23 | 1245.6 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 931 | 1114 | 970.8 | 465 | 471 | 11 | 175.8 | 7 | 2.5 | 95 | 26 | 1241.6 |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 677 | 840 | 682 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19|11 | 4.5 | 313 | 24 | 995 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 611 | 850 | 542 | 300 | 348 | 5 | 98.4 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 20 | 669.4 |
| Zaheer Khan | 148 | 208 | 129.6 | 1000 | 1160 | 22 | 456 | 2 | 2.5 | 70 | 22 | 655.6 |
| R P Singh | 26 | 55 | 8 | 788 | 885 | 24 | 496 | 2 | 2 | 58 | 18 | 562 |
| Rahul Dravid | 462 | 554 | 480.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0.5 | 62 | 20 | 542.8 |
| Goutam Gambhir | 563 | 757 | 520.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 18 | 530.4 |
| Robin Uthappa | 322 | 309 | 396.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 73 | 14 | 469.8 |
| Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.8 | 538 | 666 | 17 | 402.8 | 8 | 0.5 | 52 | 13 | 467.6 |
| Irfan Pathan | 131 | 176 | 121.2 | 552 | 611 | 12 | 224.8 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 12 | 361 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 101 | 119 | 106.8 | 439 | 564 | 7 | 180.2 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 10 | 312 |
| Sreesanth | 18 | 53 | -6.4 | 360 | 366 | 15 | 292.8 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 301.4 |
| Ramesh Powar | 46 | 78 | 29.6 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.4 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286 |
| Murali Kartik | 37 | 48 | 35.6 | 300 | 377 | 10 | 241.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 277.2 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 217 | 186.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0.5 | 82 | 13 | 268.4 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.6 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.2 | 2 | 0.5 | 22 | 8 | 233.8 |
| Virender Sehwag | 129 | 140 | 146 | 83 | 84 | 1 | 8.2 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 164.2 |
| Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.4 | 208 | 216 | 6 | 108.8 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 113.4 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.2 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.6 |
| Rohit Sharma | 61 | 74 | 62.8 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1.8 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 4 | 79.6 |
| Praveen Kumar | 12 | 13 | 13.6 | 50 | 60 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11.6 |
| Ishant Sharma | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 42 | 0 | -4.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4.4 |
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.
Some readers have asked if it isn't better to look at the average points per match, instead of the total points. The average points can sometimes give awkward results, especially if the players have played only a handful of matches. India's five most valuable players based on average points would be: Sachin Tendulkar (54.2) | Yuvraj Singh (47.8) | Dinesh Mongia (43.8) | S Sreesanth (43.1) | M S Dhoni (41.5).
The next table lists the most valuable players of the recently-concluded India-Pakistan ODI series.
Table 2: The most valuable players so far in the India-Pakistan series (5 matches)
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| 1 | Yuvraj Singh | 272 | 345 | 268 | 77 | 96 | 3 | 71.8 | 2 | 1.5 | 46 | 5 | 385.8 |
| 2 | Sachin Tendulkar | 259 | 254 | 314.8 | 54 | 42 | 2 | 27.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 342.4 |
| 3 | Mohammad Yousuf | 283 | 323 | 307.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 312.6 |
| 4 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 185 | 216 | 197.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1|4 | 2 | 93 | 5 | 290.2 |
| 5 | Salman Butt | 252 | 300 | 264 | 16 | 9 | 0 | -8.8 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 5 | 267.2 |
| 6 | Younis Khan | 231 | 278 | 239.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 244.6 |
| 7 | Sohail Tanvir | 23 | 17 | 32.4 | 178 | 221 | 8 | 190.8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 233.2 |
| 8 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 176 | 173 | 213.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 228.6 |
| 9 | Shoaib Malik | 159 | 205 | 154 | 141 | 138 | 3 | 41.4 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 5 | 219.4 |
| 10 | Harbhajan Singh | 48 | 30 | 72 | 178 | 240 | 4 | 110 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 192 |
| 11 | Irfan Pathan | 72 | 68 | 89.6 | 270 | 287 | 5 | 79.6 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 179.2 |
| 12 | Shoaib Akhtar | 1 | 2 | 0.4 | 183 | 228 | 7 | 167.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 167.8 |
| 13 | Goutam Gambhir | 141 | 196 | 125.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 130.2 |
| 14 | R P Singh | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 216 | 216 | 6 | 100.8 | 0 | 0.5 | 12 | 4 | 114 |
| 15 | Shahid Afridi | 73 | 57 | 100.4 | 223 | 222 | 2 | 2.6 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 113 |
| 16 | Zaheer Khan | 9 | 18 | 3.6 | 185 | 218 | 5 | 109.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 113 |
| 17 | Umar Gul | 2 | 2 | 2.4 | 243 | 270 | 5 | 93 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 100.4 |
| 18 | Sourav Ganguly | 89 | 109 | 90.8 | 84 | 84 | 1 | 7.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 98 |
| 19 | Sreesanth | 10 | 16 | 7.2 | 52 | 60 | 3 | 68 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 80.2 |
| 20 | Virender Sehwag | 78 | 93 | 81.6 | 37 | 36 | 0 | -8.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 73.4 |
| 21 | Kamran Akmal | 29 | 54 | 14.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4|0 | 1.5 | 56 | 4 | 70.8 |
| 22 | Murali Kartik | 16 | 10 | 24 | 136 | 156 | 2 | 36.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 60.8 |
| 23 | Rohit Sharma | 52 | 61 | 55.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 60.2 |
| 24 | Abdur Rehman | 2 | 6 | -0.8 | 112 | 102 | 3 | 41.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 40.8 |
| 25 | Iftikhar Anjum | 0 | 0 | 0 | 201 | 210 | 3 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 39 |
| 26 | Fawad Alam | 32 | 23 | 45.6 | 56 | 60 | 0 | -8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 37.6 |
| 27 | Robin Uthappa | 31 | 40 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 30 |
| 28 | Imran Nazir | 20 | 40 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 18 |
| 29 | Praveen Kumar | 12 | 13 | 13.6 | 50 | 60 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11.6 |
| 30 | Sarfraz Ahmed(WK) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2|0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 10 |
| 31 | Yasir Hameed | 1 | 5 | -2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 |
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, Debasish Ghosh and K Anil Kumar work for Cranes Software International Limited, Bangalore.
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