IPL Most Valuable Player: How does it work, and why are none of the RCB players featured in the top 10?

The evaluation process deployed by the Indian Premier League to determine the Most Valuable Player award is a curious one. The Orange Cap and Purple Cap are determined in a straightforward manner. The player with the most runs gets the former, and the player with the most wickets gets the latter. Other awards, like most fours, most sixes, and super striker, follow similar objective parameters. Here is where the MVP gets into a tricky spot. It's definitely not a subjective award. The attempt to make it an objective award is where things get complex.

Most Valuable Players, IPL 2025

The first thing one might notice is the absence of Prasidh Krishna, the purple cap holder, from the top five. So, where is Prasidh Krishna? He is occupying the 10th spot with 246 points. 

The second question is an extension of the first. How many bowlers are in the top 20 list? Five.

Most Valuable bowlers, IPL 2025

Here comes the third and most important question. Where is Josh Hazlewood? He is the 34th name on the list. Yes, Josh Hazlewood is the 34th Most Valuable Player of the season. Hazlewood missed four games towards the end of the league stage, which puts him at a disadvantage over the others. Yet, he has taken 21 wickets from just 11 matches, which is 6 more than Mohammed Siraj and 5 more than Pat Cummins, the other names who are ahead of him. In an interesting and odd way, MI's Jasprit Bumrah occupies the 30th place, despite taking 18 wickets from just 12 matches.

Sunil Narine and Pat Cummins scored points with the bat too. Bumrah and Hazlewood have faced only one ball each in the entire season. Is it their fault that they do a better job than most bowlers in the league with the ball, and yet, they are occupying the 30th and 34th places? Let's understand the scoring system to get a detailed idea.

IPL MVP scoring system

Calculations for top five players in the list

Suryakumar Yadav: 69 fours (69*2.5 = 172.5 points) + 38 sixes (38*3.5 = 133 points) + 6 catches (6*2.5 = 15 points) = 320.5 points.

Advantage of being an all-rounder

Sunil Narine occupies the 6th spot because of his genuine all-round skills. He opens the innings and bowls four overs.

12 wickets and 89 dots got him 131 points with the ball.

25 fours and 19 sixes got him 129 points with the bat.

3 catches and 3 run-outs got him 10.5 points.

Narine didn't have an extraordinary season by his own lofty standards. Yet, his contribution in two areas got him a high sixth-place finish with 270.5 points.

The skewed nature of the points system

Let's explore the disparity in the points system.

Points for best bowling efforts

Two bowlers have taken a five-wicket haul in IPL 2025

Mitchell Starc (DC) vs SRH - 5/35 with 12 dots

Hardik Pandya (MI) vs LSG - 5/36 with 10 dots

Starc got 29.5 points for his five wickets (17.5 points) and 12 dots (12 points)

Hardik got 27.5 points for his performance against LSG.

Mohammed Siraj's 17 dot balls and four wickets against SRH fetched him 31 points, the most points managed by a bowler in an inning.

Points for best batting efforts

36 batters have scored at least 5 sixes and 5 fours in an innings in IPL 2025.

Those 36 instances fetched them a minimum of 30 points (17.5 for 5 sixes, 12.5 for 5 fours).

Inference

1. A batter hitting five sixes in an inning has a higher likelihood to happen than a bowler taking five wickets in an inning.

2. A batter has two higher-valued metrics to maximise their score (3.5 points for a six, 2.5 points for a four), whereas a bowler has one higher-valued metric (3.5 points for a wicket) and one lower-valued metric (1 point for a dot ball).

Most points gained through each metric

Sai Sudharsan's points through the fours alone are higher than the total points collected by all specialist bowlers, except Prasidh Krishna.

Experts opinion

Former Indian international cricketers Abhinav Mukund and Subramaniam Badrinath debated about the points system in the Tamil broadcast during the league game between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad. Yashasvi Jaiswal was leading the MVP charts at that point. They questioned the batter-friendly nature of the points system and also opined that Yashasvi wasn't their MVP.

What about RCB players?

CSK, DC, and RCB have no entries in the top 10 list. The absence of RCB players demands scrutiny due to them being the first team to reach the final of IPL 2025. Virat Kohli at 12th position is the highest-ranked RCB player in the MVP list. Shreyas Iyer is the highest-ranked PBKS player on the list. The Punjab Kings captain is in 8th place, thanks mainly to the 39 sixes he smashed in the season.

Virat Kohli's MVP points, IPL 2025

RCB's specialists

Krunal Pandya is the only genuine all-rounder in the RCB starting XI, and even he has batted only 6 times. Krunal has scored 105 runs this season, and 73 of those came in one game, against Delhi Capitals.

MVP vs IPL title

The Most Valuable Player award was won by a player from the title-winning team in three of the first five seasons. Sachin Tendulkar and Chris Gayle won the awards as runners-up in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

The next 15 seasons witnessed several oddities.

Jofra Archer won the award in 2020 despite the Rajasthan Royals finishing last in the points table. Suryakumar Yadav will most likely win the award for IPL 2025. It is unlikely for Shreyas Iyer to collect 64 points against RCB in the final. 

The points system overwhelmingly favours the batters. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Josh Hazlewood, and Prasidh Krishna should be given an equal chance to lay their hands on the prestigious award.

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