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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Who is the Most Valuable Player of this IPL?

With less than a week to go in the IPL 2009, its time to look back and pick this year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). Selecting the best player in a league is a subjective call. And when it comes to cricket you can be sure that everyone has their own opinion.

In the NBA, the MVP is picked by an “informed” voting panel with each member ranking their top 5 candidates in a secret ballot. The player with the highest weighted average vote wins. The logic here is- the average of the subjective views of a number of experts is bound to throw up the right result. And even after this, there’s still a lot of debate of whether the right man won.

In cricket, it gets even harder because you end up comparing across species- batsmen and bowlers. Then there are all-rounders and keeper-batsmen which add to the complexity. That’s where an objective, comprehensive, all-encompassing ranking system comes in handy; that’s where the Castrol Index helps us rank the best players of the tournament. 

So let’s take a look at this year’s candidates. For simplicity, we first compare within a species (i.e. batsmen with batsmen) before looking across categories. We also look at player’s who have been a part of at least half the tournament, long enough to have made a sustained impact.

Batsmen
Here’s a look at the top five run-getters so far.

Matthew Hayden is well ahead of the pack- the most runs, an average score of nearly 50 per innings (a hallmark of consistency) and a high strike rate. The rating also tells you that while Duminy has a lot of runs, his batting momentum score is a fair bit lower than the rest- and that’s because of his low strike rate.

Bowlers
Below is a list of the top 5 wicket-takers.

This one is harder to call. RP Singh may be the purple cap holder, but Malinga and Nehra have been better overall bowlers thanks to their superior economy rates. SL Malinga just edges out the Delhi Daredevil in this list.

All-rounders
Here’s a look at the others, who did something with bat and ball for their teams.

The bowling strike rate (i.e. deliveries bowled per wicket) indicates Bravo was by far the most effective wicket taker of the lot, which led to him overcoming Kallis and Yusuf Pathan in the rankings. Plus, the West Indian got bonus points for his fielding efforts. Pathan did have the best batting strike rate and economy rate of the three, but his lack of consistency led to fewer wickets taken and fewer runs per innings. A tough call, but statistically Bravo wins out.

The MVP
Here’s where the Castrol Index helps you compare across players, regardless of their role in their team. And the outright winner is Matthew Hayden. His overall Castrol Index of 81 is top of the pack. His batting momentum score of 79 is nearly 40% better than his closest competitor. His consistency has been unparalleled by anyone- no other batsman, bowler or all-rounder has maintained his level of sustained excellence. And Hayden has led his side to a winning record and a place in the semis. Without a doubt, the IPL 2009 MVP is Matthew Hayden. 

Arvind Iyengar - View Profile

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