Team MVP

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

I was having a chat with Pratyush and it got me thinking :wow: ...

In baseball an MVP is presented every year as the player with the most instrumental effect on his team. In cricket currently there are many instrumental players, some of whom are superstars and others unnoticed...

Heath Streak
Brian Lara
Shiv Chanderpaul
Ricky Ponting
Michael Vaughan
Stephen Fleming
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
Sanath Jayasuriya
Yousuf Youhana
Inzamam
Shoaib
Habibul

and many others. My question to you is who is the Most Valuable Player in world cricket currently?

I would pick Brian Charles.

 

[Pratters]

Brian Lara because the man seems to be playing an instrumental role in rebuilding the Windies cricket team. He is one person I am seeing with foresight, which I dont always associate with Windies cricket administrators, those in-charge. He seems one ray of hope to bring back the Windies to be a top side again.

 

[Anil]

How about Murali for SL? Sri Lankans depend on Murali even more than the West Indians depend on Lara, I feel, and he consistently delivers.

 

[Langeveldt]

Here are my MVP's for 2003!!

Australia - Ricky Ponting
Bangladesh - Alok Kopali
England - Michael Vaughan
India - Rahul Dravid
New Zealand - Darryl Tuffey
Pakistan - Yousuf Youhana
South Africa - Jacques Kallis
Sri Lanka - Chaminda Vaas
West Indies - Brian Lara
Zimbabwe - Heath Streak

 

[KishanTeli]

Australia - Ricky Ponting
Bangladesh - Alok Kopali
England - Michael Vaughan
India - Rahul Dravid
New Zealand - Darryl Tuffey
Pakistan - Yousuf Youhana
South Africa - Jacques Kallis
Sri Lanka - Chaminda Vaas
West Indies - Brian Lara
Zimbabwe - Heath Streak

I agree with all the above apart from Sri Lanka, must be Murali surely?

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

How about Murali for SL? Sri Lankans depend on Murali even more than the West Indians depend on Lara, I feel, and he consistently delivers.

Lara fails, Windies fails. Simple as that.

 

[PY]

Lara fails, he has Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Gayle as backup.

Murali fails, only Vaas as backup....if Murali has a poor innings of bowling then that leaves 8-9 wickets for Vaas to pick up with help from basically no-one.

Lara can 'hide' (not saying he does, it's just a turn of phrase) behind 6-7 other guys whereas Murali only has 3 because not everyone can get wickets but everyone can get runs.

 

[krkode]

I'll pick one for each of the old test teams. Without this player, this team's fortune would have been drastically different, IMO.

Australia: Glenn McGrath
New Zealand: Chris Cairns
South Africa: Allan Donald
Zimbabwe: Andy Flower
Sri Lanka: Muralitharan
India: Tendulkar
Pakistan: Wasim Arkram
England: Alec Stewart
West Indies: Brian Lara

Like I said, my definition of the most valuable player, is just that. The most valuable. The man who inspires, the man who performs, the man who wins games for his teams, or if they can't win, he'll make it so they lose in style. These are/were those men.

Overall, though, on current status, I'd say Lara and Muralitharan are invaluable to their respective teams. No them, and that team is essentially doomed. Windies, because they now lack all that firepower that Ambrose and Walsh could give them not very long ago, and Sri Lanka because their big guns Jayasurya, DeSilva, etc. are all retired or past their prime, and Murali needs to fire every game for SL to have anywhere close to a quality win.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Lara fails, he has Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Gayle as backup.

Murali fails, only Vaas as backup....if Murali has a poor innings of bowling then that leaves 8-9 wickets for Vaas to pick up with help from basically no-one.

Lara can 'hide' (not saying he does, it's just a turn of phrase) behind 6-7 other guys whereas Murali only has 3 because not everyone can get wickets but everyone can get runs.

And yet Sarwan, Gayle and Chanders have not traditionally gotten the job done as Lara has.

Some stats to ponder...

Sri Lanka has lost 27 games with Murali in the side. Of those games Murali has taken 120 wickets at 33.05 apiece with a 5w haul every 3.85 games.

That's 10 off his career average.

Lara averages 43.11 when the West Indies loses with 3708 runs and a century every 4.77 games.

That's approaching 10 off his career avge.

Simply put, I believe that Lara is at least as valuable to his team's cause as Murali is. It's hard to compare because of the two different roles they play, but Lara only has one truly reliable batsman to fall back on and Murali only has one reliable bowler to fall back on. Therefore they are very much alike in purpose.

 

[Prince EWS]

Here are my MVP's for 2003!!

Bangladesh - Alok Kopali
Sri Lanka - Chaminda Vaas

These two are just rediculous. I could sit down and pick a Bangladesh team without Alok, but I could pick an Asian XI with Habibul in it. And Muralitharan is surely Sri Lankas MVP!

 

[Prince EWS]

Lara fails, he has Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Gayle as backup.

Sarwan and Gayle bat above Lara, so they dont know if he is going to fail or not. But I dont think Lara got may in WI historic win over Aus.... correct me if Im wrong.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

He got 50odd, but that's an outstanding situation. A run chase like that doesn't happen very often.

 

[Neil Pickup]

These two are just rediculous. I could sit down and pick a Bangladesh team without Alok, but I could pick an Asian XI with Habibul in it. And Muralitharan is surely Sri Lankas MVP!

Agree on Sri Lanka, but not on Kapali!

 

[Prince EWS]

Agree on Sri Lanka, but not on Kapali!

Alok Kapali doesnt get anywaher near Habibul Bashar. I guess I would always pick Alok in teh Bangladesh team, but he doesnt come close to the determination, skill and disciplin and Habibul.

 

[Craig]

Heath Streak.

 

[Adamc]

I would say that Lara and Murali are comparable in terms of how important they are to the team. Lara regularly scores 35-40% of his team's runs in a series - in the last tour of SL he scored 42% - and Murali regularly takes 35-40% of the wickets. Murali perhaps has greater opportunity to make a contribution, as he is allowed to bowl all day if he wants to, whereas a batsman, regardless of form, might last only one ball.

 

[Deja moo]

I would choose Dravid over tendulkar for India....Dravid has won or saved more matches for India abroad than Tendulkar.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Alok Kapali doesnt get anywaher near Habibul Bashar. I guess I would always pick Alok in teh Bangladesh team, but he doesnt come close to the determination, skill and disciplin and Habibul.

Aye, still, you wouldn't pick a team without Alok

That was my point.

 

[Prince EWS]

Hes not that great. I could pick a team without him if I had any small reason besides the total incompetency fo the team. But he doesnt sniff Habibul pants. Hes not THAT much better than Al Saharia or Ashraful, or even Anwar Hossain (or is it Sanwar - I obviusly mean the batting allrounder - not the bowler.)

Javed
Sarkar
Habibul
Saleh
Al Saharia/Ashraful/Anwar
Mashud
Mushfiqur
Mahmud
Rafique
Tapash
Mushrafe

 

[Neil Pickup]

It's Sanwar.

Al Sahariar is terrible, Ashraful is so far off the boil it's incredible and Sanwar has a distinct suspiciion of chucking.

Still, Mahmud will never play again so its 3/5 from Sahariar, Sanwar, Ashraful, Kapali & Sarkar