Ambati Rayudu pips MS Dhoni in IPL’s ROI analysis

The Indian Premier League (IPL) was full of close games with the picture of playoffs becoming clear only after the final league game as fortunes fluctuated all through the preliminary stage.

The 11th edition of the T20 league produced many exciting moments, but for every player who stood out, there were many who didn’t click. With the eight teams having splurged big sums in the big player auction before the tournament, the post-IPL assessment has been about who provided value for the money.

A study Player Return of Investment, 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.

It assigns them points and calculates how expensive a player was for each point.

It throws up interesting numbers. Top performances by a player don’t automatically make him the best buy as the team might have paid a huge sum. Thus, the topper of the chart is the one who came cheap but delivered in the tournament.

For instance, India skipper Virat Kohli didn’t fare poorly but Royal Challengers Bangalore ended sixth in the points table to be eliminated from the playoffs race. Kohli hit 530 runs at 48.18 at a strike rate of 139.10 with four half-centuries. But RCB had splurged ~17 crore for him, which meant Kohli, despite logging 2,225 points, cost ~76,404 per point for his team.

Similarly, MS Dhoni inspired Chennai Super Kings to their third IPL triumph. Dhoni’s finishing with the bat, captaincy and keeping all stood out, and his team will be loathe to put a number on his contribution. But the cold statistics put opener Ambati Rayudu (2734 points) way ahead of Dhoni in the list as the opener, who was a picture of consistency, was bought for ~2.2 crore while Dhoni (2450 points) cost the franchise ~15 crore.

Thus 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.

CSK’s Shane Watson, who hit a match-winning century in the final, finished with 3330 points, and the franchise that bought him for ~4 crore, spent ~12,012 per point. Chris Gayle, a lastgasp buy for Kings XI Punjab who delivered some splendid knocks, logged 1706 points at only ~9,211.20 per point as he was bought for ~2 crore.

The high returns for low investment model thus puts Delhi Daredevils pacer Harshal Patel, who played just five games for the bottom team, at the top of the chart as he was bought for ~2 crore but collected 830 points, with each point coming at an investment of just ~860. Rajasthan Royals’ Karnataka leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal, who bowled impressively and took 11 wickets in 11 games is next best at ~1151 per point (~2 cr). However, RR left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat, the most expensive Indian player at the auction (~11.5 cr) who also claimed 11 scalps, cost ~1.05 lakh per each of his 1088 points, the study says.