IPL 2018: Ambati Rayudu finishes ahead of MS Dhoni as a more valuable player

For the first time in the IPL history, games went ever-so-close and the tournament closer. With every passing game, it was very difficult to determine who the top four would be after the group stages.

Only on the final day of the tournament, in the game between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings, it was clear who the top four teams were in the tournament. While many players put up massive performances to stand at a chance at being picked by the Indian team, there were others whose performance was shocking than ever.

Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma finished the tournament with at-least fifty runs short of Kolkata Knight Riders’ opener Sunil Narine.

Return on Investment model

According to Hindustan Times, a study Player Return of Investment conducted by the Hansa Research Group calculates the impact players had in the tournament using various parameters like a racy fifty or century, fours and sixes, and catches and wickets, etc.

Following that, it assigns them points and then based on their cost per game, the value of a player is decided.

It is only the players which the franchise have got at a cheaper price who have featured heavily on the list. Virat Kohli didn’t fare poorly despite his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore not getting to the playoffs.

The right-hander had scored 530 runs in the tournament, with RCB retaining him by paying a price of Rs 17 crore. Kohli, despite logging 2,225 points, cost Rs 76,404 per point for his team.

Ambati Rayudu finishing over MS Dhoni

However, purely based on statistics this season, Chennai Super Kings’ Ambati Rayudu was more valuable than his skipper MS Dhoni. Rayudu was bought by the franchise for 2.2 crores, while MS Dhoni was retained by the franchise at 15 crores. The right-handed opener scored a total of 2734 points while Dhoni got 2450 points.

According to the study, Rayudu is 16th overall in the list in terms of players providing the best returns while Dhoni is 113 and Kohli only 121 among 136 players who featured in at least one game.

Meanwhile, his fellow opener Shane Watson ended up with 3330 points, with the franchise getting him for Rs 4 crore, spending Rs 12,012 per point.

According to the model, the highest return on investment on the list is for Delhi Daredevils’ Harshal Patel. The right-handed all-rounder cost the franchise Rs 2 crores, with 830 points, with each point coming at an investment of just Rs 860.