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PVI 43: Eight lessons from the IPL auction
Srinivas Bhogle, Purnendu Maji and Soumya Hait
May 20, 2008

It's interesting to look back at the IPL player auction in February 2008 and see if there are some lessons to learn from an event that shook the cricketing fraternity. These are random thoughts, and appearing in a random order, but influenced by our paisa vasool analysis.

The idea of an 'icon' player didn't work. The icon captain was expected to reinforce local loyalty to the team, but apparently that wasn't necessary, except perhaps with Sourav Ganguly [Images] and Kolkata Knight Riders. When asked to lead the Chennai team, M S Dhoni [Images] from Ranchi didn't "mind it" at all; poor dear Rahul Dravid [Images], on the other hand, has barely smiled after assuming Bangalore's icon position.

The icon classification forced franchise owners to typically hold back 20-25% of the amount admissible (US$ 5 million) for just one player... but no player can really be worth so much. This becomes evident when we look at the PVI of icon players. Most have a PVI of around 3000, except Virender Sehwag [Images] who is below 1500 and Sachin Tendulkar [Images] who is well above 3000.

It was unwise to pay too much for single cricketing skills. Pure bowlers and pure batsmen are very unlikely to offer good returns if they are paid more than $500,000 (at 2008 rates). Pure bowler Ishant Sharma ($950,000) currently has a PVI of 5557. Even R P Singh ($875,000), who's at the moment wearing the purple cap with 15 wickets, has a PVI of 2841. Pure batsman Robin Uthappa ($800,000) has a PVI of 2484, Mohammed Kaif and Manoj Tiwary have PVIs respectively of 6181 and 7114.

It is of course possible for single skill cricketers to have sufficiently low PVIs; but that needs exceptional performance. IPL's best batsman, Gautam Gambhir [Images] ($725,000), has a PVI of 1145 although he offers only one skill. Rohit Sharma ($750,000) has a PVI of 1491. Pure bowler S Sreesanth [Images] ($625,000), with his 13 wickets - and all those tears - has a reasonable PVI of 2210.

Indian players cost more than foreign players for comparable skills. Why would one pay Yusuf Pathan $550,000 and Matthew Hayden [Images] only $375,000? This is puzzling till one realizes that every team must have seven Indian players. India probably has 20 top-notch T20 players, and there are eight teams competing for this scarce resource! So Indians naturally cost more. Exactly the opposite argument works for foreign players: fewer foreign players are required, and there is a larger pool to choose from.

Wicket-keepers are not so valuable in T20. In the last decade, coinciding with the explosive appearance of Adam Gilchrist [Images], it has become fashionable to say that wicket-keepers too are 'all-rounders'. In test matches, and even in ODI cricket, a good wicket-keeper batsman indeed allows the team to include an extra bowler or batsman. But in T20 cricket, the wicket-keeper's role - and value - is vastly diminished; that's why we've seen so many irregulars donning the gloves in the IPL. At the IPL auction, wicket-keepers commanded higher prices - perhaps undeservedly. M S Dhoni ($1,500,000) has a PVI of 3238, Dinesh Karthik [Images] ($525,000) is 3280, Kumar Sangakkara ($700,000) is 1861, Mark Boucher [Images] ($450,000)'s PVI is 1636, and Adam Gilchrist ($700,000) is 1382. The message appears to be: forget their wicket-keeping, just pick them for their batting.

Bowling all-rounders might be more valuable than batting all-rounders. The performance of two South African all-rounders illustrates this very well: Shaun Pollock [Images] ($550,000), a bowling all-rounder, has a PVI of 1126 while his compatriot Jacques Kallis [Images] ($900,000), a batting all-rounder, has a PVI of 4746. Shahid Afridi [Images] ($675,000) has a PVI of 1803 while his captain Shoaib Malik [Images] ($500,000) has a PVI of 4658. Irfan Pathan [Images] ($925,000) with a PVI of 1716 offers more value than Sourav Ganguly ($1,092,500) with a PVI of 2781. Sanath Jayasuriya ($975,000) is however a glaring exception with a PVI of 1353.

Likely match-winners were paid more. Matches are won either by assembling a winning combination of talented, hard-working and consistent performers, or by explosive performers who overwhelm the opposition if it's their day. At the IPL auction, the potentially explosive match-winners fetched higher prices: M S Dhoni ($1,500,000), Yuvraj Singh [Images] ($1,063,750), Virender Sehwag ($833,750) and Robin Uthappa ($800,000) from India, Andrew Symonds [Images] ($1,350,000), Brett Lee [Images] ($900,000) and Adam Gilchrist ($700,000) from Australia, and Sanath Jayasuriya ($975,000), Chris Gayle ($800,000), Kumar Sangakkara ($700,000) and Shahid Afridi ($675,000). Only Jayasuriya, Gilchrist and Sehwag have so far single-handedly won matches for their teams. The PVI of most of these players is between 1500-2000 - suggesting that gambling with such players must be done cautiously. But it still makes sense to gamble with at least one player... he might win you the big prize on the big day.

Young and fit all-rounders offer the greatest value. Shane Watson ($125,000), Dwayne Bravo [Images] ($100,000) and Farveez Maharoof ($225,000) have been the three most successful foreign all-rounders in the IPL with PVIs respectively of 138, 259 and 545. There haven't been too many young Indian all-rounders (although a lot of young bowlers have surfaced), but Laxmi Ratan Shukla and Abhishek Nayar, costing only about $30,000 but with PVIs of 102 and 113, certainly offer evidence in support of this hypothesis.

Gamble on youth, and on Australians. The first 12-15 names on the list of players offering the best paisa vasool terms (lowest PVI) are of young Indians we had never heard of: Ashok Dinda, Manpreet Gony, Dhawal Kulkarni, Swapnil Asnodkar, Siddharth Trivedi, Ravindra Jadeja and Yo Mahesh. They have PVI values below 150 and have played wonderful supporting roles. It therefore certainly makes sense to scout the country for such virgin talent.

Australian players dominated the auction and one can now appreciate the reasons. Australia has the machinery to nurture innate talent, and Australian players come in with a superlative work ethic. One of our analysis pieces on Rediff also confirmed that Australians have performed at least twice as well as cricketers from other foreign countries.

The first IPL auction was mad, chaotic and amusing. But one suspects that the lessons learned in IPL 2008 will lead to more rational selections for IPL 2009. Two factors will have a major bearing next year: Will the cap of US$ 5 million be lifted, and allowed to become unequal? Will the number of foreign players in the playing 11 be increased from 4 to 5? One possibility that the IPL could consider is something that didn't work out in ODI cricket: allow teams of 12, with the proviso that only 7 Indians and 4 foreigners figure at any time in the playing 11 - this will offer a backdoor entry to that fifth foreign player.

Details

The tables below list the players with the highest most valuable player index (MVPI) and the lowest paisa vasool index (PVI) at the end of IPL's match 43.

Table 1: The best buys after the first 43 IPL matches (US dollars paid so far for contributing each "run")

RankPlayerTeamFromMMVPIMoney offered ($)MAMFPVI
1Shaun MarshKXIAUS632230000102142967
2Shikhar DhawanDDIND1230930000122571483
3Venugopal RaoDCIND825630000112357192
4S BadrinathCSKIND1124030000112357198
5Laxmi ShuklaKKRIND11232300001123571102
6Ashok DindaKKRIND11217300001123571109
7Prasanta SahaKKRIND10215300001123571109
8Manpreet GonyCSKIND11215300001123571110
9Dhawal KulkarniMIIND8195300001021429110
10Abhishek NayarMIIND10190300001021429113
11Swapnil AsnodkarRRIND4174300001021429123
12Shane WatsonRRAUS106451250001089286138
13Siddharth TrivediRRIND10150300001021429143
14Ravindra JadejaRRIND10142300001021429151
15Yo MaheshDDIND9171300001225714151
16Amit MishraDDIND4167300001225714154
17S Vidyut CSKIND6147300001123571161
18Pragyan OjhaDCIND11144300001123571164
19L BalajiCSKIND4136300001123571173
20Vikram SinghKXIIND8122300001021429176
21Rajat BhatiaDDIND9140300001225714184
22Ross TaylorBRCNZ4190100000535714188
23Virat KohliBRCIND10116300001123571203
24Sohail TanvirRRPAK6222100000857143257
25D ThornelyMIAUS683300001021429257
26Dwayne BravoMIWI9372150000996429259
27Sanjay BangarDCIND988300001123571269
28Mahesh RawatRRIND869300001021429312
29P SangwanDDIND774300001225714346
30Dwaraka Ravi Teja [Images]DCIND465300001123571361
31Shreevats Goswami BRCIND164300001123571368
32P VijaykumarDCIND663300001123571376
33Palani AmarnathCSKIND660300001123571393
34Luke RonchiMIAUS453300001021429402
35Debabrata DasKKRIND455300001123571431
36Karan GoelKXIIND747300001021429456
37Michael HusseyCSKAUS42113500004100000475
38Luke PomersbachKXIAUS274500001035714483
39Salman Butt [Images]KKRPAK5131100000964286489
40Arjun YadavDCIND646300001123571512
41Y Takawale MIIND568500001035714525
42Matthew HaydenCSKAUS42033750004107143527
43Darren LehmannRRAUS2123000036429536
44Musavir KhoteMIIND440300001021429540
45Farveez MaharoofDDSL835422500012192857545
46Dinesh SalunkheRRIND437300001021429579
47Pinal Shah MIIND331300001021429684
48Uday KaulKXIIND431300001021429699
49Balachandra AkhilBRCIND433300001123571707
50Ramesh Powar [Images]KXIIND130300001021429714
51Simon KatichKXIAUS2100200000571429714
52Saurabh TiwaryMIIND329300001021429731
53Misbah-ul-HaqBRCPAK5101125000980357798
54B McCullum KKRNZ42477000004200000809
55Umar GulKKRPAK4104150000996429930
56Shane Warne [Images]RRAUS1032245000010321429999
57Praveen KumarBRCIND11231300000112357141020
58James HopesKXIAUS7210300000102142861022
59Yusuf PathanRRIND10329475000103392861030
60Glenn McGrathDDAUS12285350000123000001051
61Graeme Smith [Images]RRSA825547500082714291063
62Gagandeep SinghKXIIND312300006128571071
63Brad HodgeKKRAUS3213000011235711105
64Shaun PollockMISA9349550000103928571126
65Wasim Jaffer [Images]BRCIND5104150000111178571133
66Munaf Patel [Images]RRIND10172275000101964291144
67Gautam GambhirDDIND12543725000126214291145
68Piyush ChawlaKXIIND10249400000102857141149
69Harbhajan Singh [Images]MIIND314785000031821431236
70Aakash ChopraKKRIND4193000011235711263
71V SehwagDDIND12554833750127146431289
72Mohd HafeezKKRPAK76010000011785711310
73S JayasuriyaMISL10515975000106964291353
74Scott StyrisDCNZ6101175000111375001357
75Adam Gilchrist DCAUS11398700000115500001382
76Joginder SharmaCSKIND8128225000111767861385
77Ajit Agarkar [Images]KKRIND8186330000112592861392
78Devraj PatilBRCIND2173000011235711414
79Rohit SharmaDCIND11395750000115892861491
80J ArunkumarBRCIND3153000011235711537
81Ashish NehraMIIND10181400000102857141579
82Kamran Akmal RRPAK2531500008857141627
83Mark Boucher BRCSA8216450000113535711637
84David HusseyKKRAUS11319675000115303571661
85D MascarenhasRRENG14210000010714291687
86Zaheer Khan [Images]BRCIND11207450000113535711708
87Irfan PathanKXIIND10385925000106607141716
88Makhaya Ntini [Images]CSKSA490200000111571431746
89Shahid AfridiDCPAK9267675000104821431804
90Ashley NoffkeBRCAUS1133000011235711861
91K SangakkaraKXISL6269700000105000001861
92Dale SteynBRCSA711032500092089291894
93M Jayawardene KXISL9178475000103392861906
94Chaminda Vaas [Images]DCSL481200000111571431940
95Tillakaratne DilshanDDSL5108250000122142861978
96VVS LaxmanDCIND6146375000112946432018
97Suresh RainaCSKIND11251650000115107142037
98Stephen Fleming [Images]CSKNZ7131350000112750002105
99Mithun ManhasDDIND1123000012257142143
100S SreesanthKXIIND10202625000104464292210
101Albie MorkelCSKSA8223650000115107142290
102Niraj PatelRRIND293000010214292296
103Nuwan ZoysaDCSL33511000011864292469
104Robin UthappaMIIND10230800000105714292484
105AB de VilliersDDSA6103300000122571432488
106Shoaib Akhtar [Images]KKRPAK36142500051517862502
107Andrew SymondsDCAUS4148135000043857142612
108Yuvraj SinghKXIIND102881063750107598212641
109Sourav GangulyKKRIND113091092500118583932781
110Brett LeeKXIAUS411490000053214292820
111D KalyankrishnaDCIND383000011235712829
112RP SinghDCIND11242875000116875002841
113Jacob Oram [Images]CSKNZ46767500041928572878
114Rahul DravidBRCIND112761035000118132142946
115Tatenda Taibu KKRZIM33112500011982143134
116R SarwanKXIWI450225000101607143214
117MS DhoniCSKIND1136415000001111785713238
118Dilhara FernandoMISL233150000101071433247
119Dinesh Karthik DDIND11138525000124500003261
120Parthiv Patel CSKIND874325000112553573451
121Bharat ChipliBRCIND373000011235713536
122Murali Kartik [Images]KKRIND694425000113339293540
123Taruwar KohliRRIND163000010214293571
124M MuralitharanCSKSL10130600000114714293626
125Chamara SilvaDCSL11910000011785714064
126Daniel Vettori [Images]DDNZ24262500041785714252
127Wilkin MotaKXIIND253000010214294592
128Shoaib MalikDDPAK784500000113928574658
129Jacques KallisBRCSA9149900000117071434746
130Ishant SharmaKKRIND11134950000117464295557
131Mohd KaifRRIND1078675000104821436181
132H GibbsDCSA664575000114517867059
133Cameron WhiteBRCAUS655500000113928577100
134Anil Kumble [Images]BRCIND755500000113928577100
135Manoj TiwaryDDIND781675000125785717114
136Mohd AsifDDPAK771650000115107147227
137Ricky Ponting [Images]KKRAUS41540000041142867453
138Pankaj SinghRRIND2230000102142910714
139T SrivastavaKXIIND2230000102142910714
140Brett GeevesDDAUS1350000124285714286
141Iqbal AbdullaKKRIND1130000112357117679
142S ChanderpaulBRCWI392000001115714318132
143Sachin TendulkarMIIND33511212501080089322667
144Sunil JoshiBRCIND4130000112357135357

DD:  Delhi Daredevils | CSK: Chennai Super Kings | DC: Deccan Chargers | BRC: Bangalore Royal Challengers | RR: Rajasthan Royals | KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders | KXI: Kings XI Punjab | MI: Mumbai Indians

M: Matches played | MVPI: Most valuable player index | Money offered; some estimates may be incorrect! | MA: Matches available | MF: Fraction of money earned so far | PVI: Paisa vasool index; dollars paid for every run equivalent scored

Table 2: IPL's most valuable players (after 43 matches; as on 20 May 2008, 4 pm)

RankPlayerTeamFromRunsBallsBat PtsBbRcWBowl PtsCt StRun OutsField PtsMMVPI
1Shane WatsonRRAUS333210386.021723812243.320.51610645
2V SehwagDDIND385209491.366133419.012.54412554
3G GambhirDDIND504355534.70000.020812543
4S JayasuriyaMISL336181430.790116468.020.51610515
5Adam Gilchrist DCAUS335231362.00000.0513611398
6Rohit SharmaDCIND337230367.30000.0702811395
7Irfan PathanKXIIND1129597.322424313263.7212410385
8Dwayne BravoMIWI178134177.317023211170.740.5249372
9MS DhoniCSKIND332252328.00000.031.53611364
10F MaharoofDDSL9960118.016818811212.021248354
11Shaun PollockMISA13194136.718420510200.310.5129349
12Yusuf PathanRRIND239141290.085130331.320810329
13Shaun MarshKXIAUS297222298.00000.021246322
14Shane WarneRRAUS614956.719826314225.0614010322
15David HusseyKKRAUS296233281.35494210.050.52811319
16S DhawanDDIND308254277.30000.060.53212309
17S GangulyKKRIND231220168.71081045120.0502011309
18Yuvraj SinghKXIIND195121228.73033123.070.53610288
19G McGrathDDAUS02-2.727628012280.020812285
20Rahul DravidBRCIND282222268.00000.020811276
21K SangakkaraKXISL203124240.70000.031286269
22Shahid AfridiDCPAK8044101.31622069154.030129267
23Venugopal RaoDCIND214147232.06696224.00008256
24Graeme SmithRRSA301266247.30000.02088255
25Suresh RainaCSKIND203144214.081000.770.53611251
26Piyush ChawlaKXIIND623478.715924211146.040.52410249
27B McCullum KKRNZ18392243.30000.01044247
28RP SinghDCIND16179.324535815208.740.52411242
29S BadrinathCSKIND184123204.00000.0513611240
30Laxmi ShuklaKKRIND143108142.05494674.020.51611232
31Praveen KumarBRCIND837664.723231910150.3401611231
32Robin UthappaMIIND243219194.00000.070.53610230
33Albie MorkelCSKSA14193158.0168243561.01048223
34Sohail TanvirRRPAK996.01391379192.321246222
35Ashok DindaKKRIND24-1.31982109198.0112011217
36Mark Boucher BRCSA190147184.00000.041328216
37Prasanta SahaKKRIND13598139.30000.0737610215
38M GonyCSKIND291538.024633511169.020811215
39M HusseyCSKAUS168100202.70000.02084211
40James HopesKXIAUS15597180.7114191425.01047210
41Zaheer KhanBRCIND344310.724435713176.3112011207
42M HaydenCSKAUS189131203.30000.00004203
43S SreesanthKXIIND01-1.321129413195.320810202
44D KulkarniMIIND216-17.314117611188.021248195
45Ross TaylorBRCNZ14981190.00000.00004190
46A NayarMIIND15399174.0366410.0401610190
47Ajit AgarkarKKRIND494439.31381778135.010.5128186
48Ashish NehraMIIND312-10.019224510171.0502010181
49MJayawardene KXISL14599158.00000.030.5209178
50S AsnodkarRRIND181144170.00000.01044174
51Munaf PatelRRIND01-1.32222758149.0212410172
52Yo MaheshDDIND12171.320528410149.350209171
53Amit MishraDDIND353720.772788146.00004167
54S TrivediRRIND410-5.31922539147.020810150
55Jacques KallisBRCSA163153122.0174277419.02089149
56A SymondsDCAUS161105182.0411010-46.330124148
57Harbhajan SinghMIIND301737.36082578.021.5323147
58S Vidyut CSKIND12385132.71222110.01046147
59VVS LaxmanDCIND155132134.00000.010.5126146
60Pragyan OjhaDCIND13-2.01742268134.0301211144
61R JadejaRRIND10577107.312210-5.041.54010142
62Rajat BhatiaDDIND342830.7132183689.011209140
63Dinesh Karthik DDIND796374.00000.062.56411138
64L BalajiCSKIND000.0841048136.00004136
65Ishant SharmaKKRIND996.02112576120.320811134
66Salman ButtKKRPAK145122127.30000.01045131
67S FlemingCSKNZ130112110.70000.011207131
68MMuralitharanCSKSL03-4.02282746126.020810130
69J SharmaCSKIND161117.3148239886.340.5248128
70Vikram SinghKXIIND434.01802508118.00008122
71Virat KohliBRCIND146135112.024360-4.020810116
72Brett LeeKXIAUS171316.788112469.331284114
73Dale SteynBRCSA25-2.7156191597.020.5167110
74T DilshanDDSL715667.363121.030.5205108
75Wasim JafferBRCIND1109988.00000.020.5165104
76Umar GulKKRPAK8410.790131685.000.584104
77AB de VilliersDDSA959859.30000.051.5446103
78Scott StyrisDCNZ9110147.3120150242.010.5126101
79Misbah-ul-HaqBRCPAK794696.70000.01045101
80Simon KatichKXIAUS9669100.00000.00002100
81Murali KartikKKRIND302724.088127338.34132694
82Makhaya NtiniCSKSA11126.090104480.0104490
83Sanjay BangarDCIND474928.7126189327.021.532988
84Shoaib MalikDDPAK524741.35185215.07028784
85D ThornelyMIAUS39537.34240364.03012683
86Manoj TiwaryDDIND685365.30000.020.516781
87C VaasDCSL211522.078109459.0000481
88Mohd KaifRRIND959366.00000.030121078
89P SangwanDDIND25-2.7144215557.01120774
90Parthiv Patel CSKIND11512070.00000.0104874
91L PomersbachKXIAUS593670.00000.0104274
92Mohd AsifDDPAK01-1.3168264772.0000771
93Mahesh RawatRRIND916-3.30000.082.572869
94Y Takawale MIIND465716.00000.09152568
95Jacob OramCSKNZ181220.096149327.030.520467
96D Ravi TejaDCIND624761.30000.0104465
97S Goswami BRCIND524248.00000.020.516164
98H GibbsDCSA687536.00000.03128664
99P VijaykumarDCIND110.796114362.0000663
100Shoaib AkhtarKKRPAK27-5.34254466.0000361
101Mohd HafeezKKRPAK607520.06068128.010.512760
102P AmarnathCSKIND000.0132236752.0208660
103Cam WhiteBRCAUS575935.36240-16.031.536655
104Anil KumbleBRCIND11160.7158212346.7208755
105Debabrata DasKKRIND727346.70000.000.58455
106Luke RonchiMIAUS343225.30000.03128453
107Kamran Akmal RRPAK271928.70000.040.524253
108R SarwanKXIWI737546.00000.0104450
109Karan GoelKXIIND767848.012250-9.0208747
110Arjun YadavDCIND413042.00000.0104646
111DMascarenhasRRENG987.32429235.0000142
112Daniel VettoriDDNZ000.04854242.0000242
113Musavir KhoteMIIND242218.73051221.0000440
114D SalunkheRRIND272126.0244117.0104437
115S TendulkarMIIND353819.30000.04016335
116Nuwan ZoysaDCSL11910.06699221.0104335
117B AkhilBRCIND813-1.35672234.7000433
118D FernandoMISL000.04879333.0000233
119Tatenda Taibu KKRZIM312627.30000.0104331
120Pinal Shah MIIND292919.30000.03012331
121Uday KaulKXIIND01-1.30000.021.532431
122Ramesh PowarKXIIND000.01222226.0104130

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, Purnendu Maji and Arthur DSilva work for Cranes Software International [Get Quote] Limited,
Bangalore.



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