The top seven most valuable players in the recently-concluded India-Australia seven-match one-day international series were all Australians.
Andrew Symonds, who was also named the player of the series, emerged as the most valuable player -- but purely on his batting skills.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting ended up 13th on the list, but this isn't going to happen very often again.
Table 1: Most valuable players in the India-Australia ODI series:
| Rank | Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| 1 | Andrew Symonds | 365 | 330 | 466 | 78 | 102 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 474.60 |
| 2 | Mitchell Johnson | 25 | 32 | 24 | 260 | 342 | 14 | 350 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 379.00 |
| 3 | James Hopes | 136 | 113 | 182 | 175 | 228 | 6 | 151 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 338.00 |
| 4 | Adam Gilchrist | 208 | 214 | 245 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12|2 | 12 | 92 | 7 | 336.80 |
| 5 | Mathew Hayden | 290 | 329 | 317 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 326.80 |
| 6 | Michael Clarke | 222 | 258 | 238 | 74 | 84 | 3 | 65 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 7 | 324.80 |
| 7 | Brad Hogg | 0 | 4 | -3 | 249 | 327 | 11 | 277 | 1 | 12 | 17 | 7 | 290.40 |
| 8 | Robin Uthappa | 167 | 144 | 219 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 39 | 6 | 257.80 |
| 9 | Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 176 | 207 | 186 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5|3 | 12 | 67 | 7 | 253.40 |
| 10 | Sachin Tendulkar | 278 | 402 | 234 | 75 | 84 | 0 | -8 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 7 | 246.60 |
| 11 | Zaheer Khan | 68 | 108 | 50 | 355 | 366 | 8 | 130 | 2 | 36 | 46 | 7 | 225.40 |
| 12 | Yuvraj Singh | 192 | 224 | 205 | 114 | 102 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 225.40 |
| 13 | Ricky Ponting | 199 | 237 | 208 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 223.40 |
| 14 | Murali Kartik | 21 | 38 | 12 | 164 | 221 | 8 | 205 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 216.40 |
| 15 | Brad Haddin | 200 | 243 | 206 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 205.60 |
| 16 | Brett Lee | 24 | 21 | 31 | 240 | 298 | 6 | 142 | 1 | 24 | 29 | 7 | 202.60 |
| 17 | Irfan Pathan | 59 | 108 | 32 | 282 | 324 | 7 | 145 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 181.80 |
| 18 | S Sreesanth | 8 | 37 | -14 | 244 | 216 | 9 | 145 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 4 | 141.20 |
| 19 | Harbhajan Singh | 53 | 89 | 35 | 261 | 324 | 3 | 70 | 3 | 0 | 15 | 6 | 120.00 |
| 20 | Sourav Ganguly | 127 | 181 | 109 | 31 | 18 | 0 | -17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 92.60 |
| 21 | R P Singh | 12 | 27 | 2 | 207 | 183 | 5 | 59 | 1 | 24 | 29 | 4 | 90.80 |
| 22 | Stuart Clark | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 88 | 3 | 84 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 84.40 |
| 23 | Nathan Bracken | 3 | 18 | -8 | 191 | 220 | 4 | 81 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 77.60 |
| 24 | Rahul Dravid | 51 | 80 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 6 | 63.00 |
| 25 | Brad Hodge | 59 | 108 | 32 | 18 | 12 | 0 | -8 | 4 | 12 | 32 | 7 | 55.20 |
| 26 | Goutam Gambhir | 17 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6.80 |
| 27 | Dinesh Karthik | 0 | 6 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0.20 |
| 28 | Rohit Sharma | 1 | 4 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1.20 |
| 29 | Ramesh Powar | 17 | 18 | 20 | 80 | 66 | 0 | -27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -7.60 |
For India, it was all rather disappointing. There must be something amiss with this team if Sachin Tendulkar, after 18 long years in the business, still continues to be its most valuable player. Of course, this is also an amazing tribute to the greatest ODI player that the world has ever seen. The table below lists India's most valuable players in the current season.
Table 2: India's most valuable players after the 2007 World Cup (21 matches):
| Player | Runs | Balls | Bat-pts | Rc | Bb | W | Bowl-pts | Ct|St | Run outs | Field-pts | M | Total |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 835 | 1062 | 820.40 | 193 | 192 | 3 | 32.60 | 4 | 12 | 32 | 17 | 885.00 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 644 | 743 | 693.60 | 388 | 375 | 8 | 104.00 | 5 | 24 | 49 | 20 | 846.60 |
| M S Dhoni | 487 | 613 | 483.60 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 17|7 | 60 | 215 | 18 | 698.60 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 522 | 734 | 456.80 | 192 | 252 | 4 | 105.60 | 1 | 24 | 29 | 15 | 591.40 |
| Rahul Dravid | 462 | 554 | 480.80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 10 | 12 | 62 | 20 | 542.80 |
| Zaheer Khan | 108 | 147 | 98.40 | 793 | 888 | 16 | 301.40 | 2 | 60 | 70 | 17 | 469.80 |
| Piyush Chawla | 20 | 34 | 12.80 | 538 | 666 | 17 | 402.80 | 8 | 12 | 52 | 13 | 467.60 |
| R P Singh | 25 | 54 | 6.80 | 513 | 618 | 16 | 365.40 | 1 | 36 | 41 | 13 | 413.20 |
| Goutam Gambhir | 422 | 561 | 395.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 400.20 |
| Robin Uthappa | 244 | 210 | 320.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 4 | 48 | 68 | 8 | 388.00 |
| Ramesh Powar | 46 | 78 | 29.60 | 528 | 668 | 10 | 246.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 13 | 286.00 |
| Dinesh Karthik | 180 | 211 | 191.20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 11|1 | 12 | 77 | 12 | 268.20 |
| Ajit Agarkar | 19 | 38 | 7.60 | 415 | 414 | 12 | 204.20 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 8 | 233.80 |
| S Sreesanth | 8 | 37 | -13.60 | 308 | 306 | 12 | 224.80 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 221.20 |
| Irfan Pathan | 59 | 103 | 35.60 | 259 | 294 | 6 | 120.20 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 160.80 |
| Munaf Patel | 1 | 3 | -0.40 | 208 | 216 | 6 | 108.80 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 113.40 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 34 | 40 | 36.00 | 230 | 282 | 3 | 67.60 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 108.60 |
| Virender Sehwag | 51 | 47 | 64.40 | 46 | 48 | 1 | 16.40 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 90.80 |
| Dinesh Mongia | 34 | 41 | 35.20 | 106 | 108 | 3 | 52.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 87.60 |
| Murali Kartik | 0 | 4 | -3.20 | 137 | 161 | 2 | 39.80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 36.60 |
| Rohit Sharma | 9 | 13 | 7.60 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1.80 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 19.40 |
| Ishant Sharma | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 38 | 42 | 0 | -4.40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4.40 |
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 [Get Quote] Limited, Bangalore.
