After winning the International Cricket Council's [Images] ODI Player of the Year 2008 award, it is not such a big surprise that Mahendra Singh Dhoni [Images] is also India's most valuable ODI player so far in the 2008-09 season.

However, the Indian ODI captain faces stiff competition from Virender Sehwag [Images]. In fact, Sehwag would have been an easy topper if he had been fit to play the India-Sri Lanka ODI series that ended recently.

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Batsmen scoring a lot of runs at a good strike rate, bowler taking the most wickets at a good (low) economy rate and fielders taking the most catches or run outs, are seen to offer their teams the greatest "value". The most valuable player index (MVPI) collapses a player's all-round performance into a suitable 'run equivalent'.

Table 1: India's MVP in the 2008-09 ODI season (14 matches so far)

Rank	Player	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	Bat Pts	Bb	Rc	W	Eco	Bowl Pts	Ct St	Run Outs	Field Pts	M	Total
1	MS Dhoni	608	689	88.2	641.8	0	0	0	-	0.0	20	3.5	187.5	14	829
2	Virender Sehwag	498	358	139.1	697.7	173	150	3	5.2	69.2	2	0	10	8	777
3	Suresh Raina	579	603	96.0	655.5	18	22	0	7.3	-7.0	7	1	60	14	709
4	Gautam Gambhir [Images]	504	511	98.6	582.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	4	1	45	13	627
5	Yuvraj Singh [Images]	366	401	91.3	397.8	234	198	4	5.1	97.0	2	0	10	13	505
6	Irfan Pathan [Images]	105	126	83.3	105.0	460	416	10	5.4	217.3	1	0	5	9	327
7	Praveen Kumar	16	25	64.0	11.2	495	417	11	5.1	270.5	3	0.5	27.5	10	309
8	Zaheer Khan [Images]	18	66	27.3	-19.0	278	144	9	3.1	312.7	0	0.5	12.5	5	306
9	RP Singh	4	14	28.6	-3.7	366	339	11	5.6	241.0	2	2	60	7	297
10	Rohit Sharma	247	350	70.6	202.3	83	42	0	3.0	27.2	3	1	40	14	270
11	Piyush Chawla [Images]	2	7	28.6	-1.8	322	295	11	5.5	248.3	1	0	5	6	252
12	Munaf Patel [Images]	20	17	117.6	25.8	246	166	7	4.0	214.0	1	0	5	5	245
13	Harbhajan Singh [Images]	17	44	38.6	-2.7	178	113	6	3.8	185.3	1	0.5	17.5	4	200
14	Pragyan Ojha	27	46	58.7	15.7	258	173	5	4.0	167.0	3	0	15	5	198
15	Ishant Sharma	8	19	42.1	0.2	396	385	8	5.8	145.0	2	0	10	7	155
16	Virat Kohli	159	239	66.5	118.8	0	0	0	-	0.0	3	0.5	27.5	5	146
17	Yusuf Pathan	28	41	68.3	21.8	234	193	3	4.9	77.0	4	0.5	32.5	7	131
18	Manpreet Gony	0	0	-	0.0	94	76	2	4.9	52.3	0	0	0	2	52
19	Robin Uthappa	37	61	60.7	23.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	0	0	0	3	23
20	S Badrinath	39	87	44.8	5.5	0	0	0	-	0.0	2	0	10	3	16

Runs (scored) | Balls (faced) | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points | Bb: Balls bowled | Rc: Runs conceded | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | 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.

Dhoni was also voted the Player of the Series in the five-match series against Sri Lanka [Images], presumably for his two crucial half-centuries and his 'cool' captaincy, that largely contributed to India's series victory.

But Sri Lanka's Thilan Thushara must consider himself a trifle unlucky to miss this honour, because he was, without a doubt, statistically the best performer of the series.

It was also a series in which the bowlers ruled, with the top six players all being bowlers. Perhaps the fact that Dhoni was the highest run-getter on these batsmen-unfriendly pitches also tilted the scales in his favour.

Table 2: The most valuable players in the India-SL ODI series

Rank	Player	Team	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	Bat Pts	Bb	Rc	W	Eco	Bowl Pts	Ct St	Run Outs	Field Pts	M	Total
1	Thilan Thushara	SL	168	176	95.5	189.3	208	159	10	4.6	264.3	1	0	5	5	459
2	Ajantha Mendis [Images]	SL	8	22	36.4	-2.3	261	152	13	3.5	390.5	0	0	0	5	388
3	N Kulasekara [Images]	SL	48	115	41.7	0.2	240	159	11	4.0	316.0	2	0.5	22.5	5	339
4	Zaheer Khan	IND	18	66	27.3	-19.0	278	144	9	3.1	312.7	0	0.5	12.5	5	306
5	Munaf Patel	IND	20	17	117.6	25.8	246	166	7	4.0	214.0	1	0	5	5	245
6	Harbhajan Singh	IND	17	44	38.6	-2.7	178	113	6	3.8	185.3	1	0.5	17.5	4	200
7	MS Dhoni	IND	193	249	77.5	178.5	0	0	0	-	0.0	4	0	20	5	199
8	M Jayawardene	SL	185	268	69.0	146.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	7	0	35	5	182
9	Suresh Raina	IND	157	210	74.8	139.0	12	11	0	5.5	-1.0	2	0	10	5	148
10	Virat Kohli	IND	159	239	66.5	118.8	0	0	0	-	0.0	3	0.5	27.5	5	146
11	Yuvraj Singh	IND	72	108	66.7	54.0	138	111	3	4.8	79.0	2	0	10	5	143
12	M Muralitharan [Images]	SL	18	37	48.6	5.2	226	172	4	4.6	116.3	1	0.5	17.5	4	139
13	Praveen Kumar	IND	4	9	44.4	0.5	144	121	5	5.0	124.0	1	0	5	3	130
14	D Fernando	SL	12	12	100.0	14.0	86	49	3	3.4	97.7	1	0	5	2	117
15	S Jayasuriya	SL	97	126	77.0	89.0	84	61	0	4.4	9.0	1	0	5	5	103
16	Chaminda Vaas [Images]	SL	17	33	51.5	6.5	168	107	2	3.8	83.0	1	0	5	3	95
17	Pragyan Ojha	IND	21	38	55.3	10.3	78	37	2	2.8	78.0	1	0	5	2	93
18	Rohit Sharma	IND	72	93	77.4	66.5	59	40	0	4.1	9.2	0	0.5	12.5	5	88
19	Irfan Pathan	IND	19	42	45.2	3.0	132	108	3	4.9	77.0	1	0	5	3	85
20	C Kapugedera	SL	113	186	60.8	71.0	0	0	0	-	0.0	2	0	10	5	81
21	Jehan Mubarak	SL	47	55	85.5	48.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	0	0	0	1	48
22	T Dilshan	SL	44	76	57.9	24.7	0	0	0	-	0.0	1	0.5	17.5	4	42
23	M Udawatte	SL	43	55	78.2	40.2	0	0	0	-	0.0	0	0	0	1	40
24	K Sangakkara	SL	37	84	44.0	4.0	0	0	0	-	0.0	4	0.5	32.5	5	37
25	G Gambhir	IND	36	59	61.0	22.8	0	0	0	-	0.0	2	0	10	4	33
26	Chamara Silva	SL	1	7	14.3	-3.8	0	0	0	-	0.0	1	1	30	3	26
27	M Warnapura	SL	30	62	48.4	8.3	0	0	0	-	0.0	3	0	15	2	23
28	S Badrinath	IND	39	87	44.8	5.5	0	0	0	-	0.0	2	0	10	3	16
29	RP Singh	IND	4	13	30.8	-2.8	48	54	1	6.8	11.0	1	0	5	1	13

Runs (scored) | Balls (faced) | Strike rate | Bat-pts: Batting points |  Bb: Balls bowled | Rc: Runs conceded | W: Wickets taken | Eco: Economy rate | 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, Purnendu Maji and Soumya Hait work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] [Get Quote] [Get Quote] [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.