The Most Valuable Players (MVP) in IPL History

Published by Arjun Sharma on April 12, 2023April 12, 2023

The most valuable player in ipl was an award renamed from the traditional ‘Man of the Tournament’. The Indian Premier League (IPL) started recognising the MVP of the season from the 2012 edition of the league, before which it was the ‘Player of the Series’ that got what is deemed now as the most significant individual award that can be won after an IPL season. 

The Most Valuable Player award recipient is identified through a rigorous process featuring a points system. Per the MVP points system used in the IPL, the player with the highest points by the end of the season gets the prestigious award. The details of the points system are thus: for every four hits by the player, he receives 2.5 points. Every six and wicket taken is equal to 3.5 points. Delivering one dot ball gives the player 1 point, while each catch taken and the stumping inflicted amounts to 2.5 points. 

In this article, we will discuss which players have received the MVP award in respective seasons of the IPL, players who dominated a particular edition of the tournament through sheer consistency of performances on the field. 

Top 10 MVPs in IPL History

The top 10 MVPs in ipl history can be ascertained through a comparison of the most points earned over multiple seasons. There has been only one player since the inception of the MVP award to have received it twice, which makes KKR stalwart Andre Russell the No.1 most valuable player in ipl history. The West Indies cricketer has received the MVP awards for his performances in IPL 2015 and 2019 with 312 and 369 points, respectively. The IPL 2015 points tally would put Russel at No.6th in the individual MVP list. 

The rest of the list can be arrived at through a simple glance at the top rating point holders for the MVP system. The highest-ever points collected by a player are 387 by Royals smashing opening batter Jos Buttler at No.2. 

The No.3 MVP of the IPL is Shane Watson, with 386 points earned back in IPL 2013 when the MVP concept was launched in the toughest T20 league. He was the hero for the Royals. 

Fourth, the MVP list has Sunil Narine with 379.5 points. Like Watson, Narine is one of those rare cricketers to have received the MVP award and the ‘Player of the Tournament’ as it was called previously — both times for KKR. 

Fifth in the prestigious bracket is Virat Kohli with his bumper IPL 2016 season, where he finished with 356.5 MVP rating points for RCB. 

The No.7 ranked MVP player has to be Archer, the England and then Royals pace recruit, who picked up 20 wickets in IPL 2020 to end with 307 rating points. 

At No.8, we have the then Punjab blazer Maxwell after his astounding performances in IPL 2014 in UAE and India. With his eye-catching 512 runs that season, which helped Punjab make the tournament’s final, where they ultimately lost to KKR, Maxwell bagged 286 MVP rating points for that season. 

Stokes is placed ninth in the list of IPL’s most valuable players in league history for his brilliant 2017 campaign for RPSG. His exploits with the bat and the ball meant that the English allrounder finished with a tally of 270 points. 

At tenth, the list rounds off with RCB pacer Harshal Patel, who enjoyed his breakthrough IPL season in 2021 with 32 scalps. Only once had a bowler taken as many wickets in a single IPL season. However, Patel’s rating points remained a low-key 264.5, reflecting a system that gives more significant weightage to allrounders who can impact either skill. 

MVPs of IPL 2021 and 2022

Having been a journeyman cricketer in the IPL over the years, Harshal Patel, the most valuable player in ipl 2021, finally found a strong base for himself with a return to the RCB colours. With his stocks falling off, it was a massive show of trust from the popular franchise to bring him back into the reckoning. Patel knew that he must deliver the goods if he is to vindicate that show of trust by the franchise and prove himself a cricketer that can withstand the IPL challenge. 

An upskilled range, where he could deliver a broader range of slower balls, helped Patel make an impact for the RCB and finish as the ipl 2021 most valuable player. He delivered the tough overs, especially at the death, and finished with 32 wickets. Despite the MVP system favouring the all-rounders, Patel won the tag as a specialist bowler purely because of his impact on the games his team played. Harshal Patel – the 2021 ipl most valuable player – is a tag that the cricketer would savour for his lifetime. 

The most valuable player of ipl 2022 had to be Jos Buttler after he exercised his dominance with the bat throughout the tournament for Rajasthan Royals (RR). Reinforcing his status as one of the world’s leading white-ball players and certainly one of the IPL greats, Buttler produced a massive 863 runs with the bat in hand. Only Virat Kohli, with his 973 runs in IPL 2016 has scored more runs in a particular edition of the IPL. 

Buttler, the ipl 2022 most valuable player, reached there with four exceptional centuries and just as many half-centuries next to his name in the tournament, where he played a huge role in allowing the Royals to make the finals against the ultimate winners Gujarat Titans (GT). Buttler carried a terrific strike rate of 149.05 during the season and finished with 387 rating points. It says something about his performances in IPL 2022 that no player has ever recorded more MVP points in a season. Truly, Buttler was the deserving most valuable player in ipl 2022.

Most Valuable Player by Year

There was no MVP award for the first five editions of the IPL. The ‘Player of the Series’ got the highest honour without a designated points system being put in place to identify this cricketer. Often the commentators got down to discuss and came up with the recipient’s name. But one thing remained common. It was always the best performer of the season. 

The first such award was given to Shane Watson for his profoundly influential role in Rajasthan Royals’ maiden IPL title. Watson made 472 runs and picked up 17 wickets that season, playing a big part in RR’s journey to bag the coveted silverware. 

Following Watson to the feat was the Australian legend and the then Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist. Leading his troops from the front, Gilchrist made 495 runs from his 16 innings at a strike rate of 152.30, including three fifties and a best of 85.

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar belied his age to receive the ‘Player of the Tournament’ in IPL 2010. Entering his 38th year, Tendulkar finished with a spectacular 618 runs at an average of 47.53 with a strike rate of 132.61. He was mighty instrumental in taking Mumbai Indians (MI) to the competition’s final. 

Chris Gayle’s blistering comeback to the IPL in 2011 as a Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) maverick saw him earn the ‘Player of the Series’ award with 608 runs amassed at a strike rate of 183.13, including two hundreds and three half-centuries. 

The last ‘Player of the Tournament’ award was handed over in IPL 2012 to Sunil Narine, who transformed KKR’s fortunes with an outstanding campaign. Nobody picked Narine from the hands as he took 24 wickets from 15 matches at an economy rate of just 5.47. 

The first MVP award was handed over back in 2013 to Royals premier allrounder Watson, who finished with a whopping 386 rating points to his name because of the sheer performances he displayed for his team. The Aussie limited-overs stalwart had a terrific season with both bat and the ball. 

Not only was Watson Royals’ top run-getter of the IPL 2013 but also their third-highest wicket-taker. He amassed a whopping 543 runs at an average of 38.78 with a strike rate of 142.89, with his tally featuring one century and two fifties. Watson smashed 59 fours and 22 sixes in IPL 2013. He picked up 13 wickets at 22.92 apiece while retaining an economy rate of 7.15.

The most valuable player in ipl award for the 2014 edition was given to Australian batting maverick Glenn Maxwell with 286 points, who was highly influential in Punjab reaching the final – their best result in IPL history to date. Maxwell smashed the bowling to all parts, finishing with 286 points to bag the MVP award. The extravagant right-hand batter hit 552 runs from his 16 innings at an average of 34.50 and a strike rate of 187.75. He smashed 27 fours and 16 sixes along the way. 

In the next season, the MVP award went to another towering T20 player, West Indies’ mighty all-round cricketer Andre Russell, who pulverised the opposition bowling to all parts of the ground for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and also delivered some crucial wickets with the ball. Russell, who finished with 312 points, made 326 runs at a jaw-dropping SR of 192.89, averaging 36.22. In all, he struck 35 fours and 19 sixes for the season. He also took 14 wickets with his medium fast-bowling, finishing with an ER of 7.96. 

The MVP of IPL 2016 couldn’t have been anyone else but Virat Kohli, the Indian batting great, who had his most successful IPL season to date for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) with 356.5 points. Leading the RCB from the front that year, he made an unprecedented 973 runs in just 16 innings in the middle. Kohli had a whopping SR of 152.03 and averaged a handsome 81.08. No one before or no one since has made more runs in an IPL season than the RCB stalwart, who hit four centuries and seven half-centuries in IPL 2016 with 83 fours and 38 sixes. He played a significant role in taking RCB to the tournament’s final.

Following Kohli to the MVP post is England’s premier allrounder Ben Stokes, who paid rich dividends to the now-disbanded Rising Pune Super Giants with a terrific IPL 2017, where he finished with 270 points to his name. Stokes smashed 316 runs in his 11 innings at a strike rate of 142.98, hitting 22 fours and 15 sixes away. He also took 12 wickets at an economy rate of 7.18. 

The MVP of IPL 2018 was West Indies and KKR mystery spin stalwart Sunil Narine, who shined not just with the bat but also with the willow in hand, made to bat as a pinch-hitter by the KKR think-tank. Narine hammered 357 runs at a strike rate of 189.89, including 40 fours and 23 sixes. He also picked up 17 wickets at 7.65 runs an over to finish with the most 379.5 rating points. 

Up next is Narine’s teammate and the only player to have received the MVP award twice – Russell, who once again put on the beast mode with a bat in hand and smashed opposition attacks throughout to win the most valuable player in ipl 2019. Russell blasted 510 runs from his 14 innings at a strike rate of 204.81, apart from taking 11 wickets for his team. He finished as the MVP with 369 points. 

England’s fast-bowling gem Jofra Archer had a very impressive IPL 2020 to his name for the Royals, managing to stand out even for a team that failed to make it past the league stage. 

Archer bowled superbly despite a longish Covid-enforced break before the season to bag the most valuable player in ipl 2020. He picked up 20 wickets and made 113 runs.

The 2021 most valuable player in ipl was RCB pacer Harshal Patel. The India and Haryana seamer bagged a whopping 32 wickets to his name that season, which took his season MVP points tally to 264.5. Patel bowled all the tricky overs for RCB, being their trusted man for the death-bowling duties. 

Last but not least, the most valuable player ipl 2022 was RR’s destroying opening batter Jos Buttler, who finished with a whopping 863 runs for the season with a strike rate of 149.05, including four centuries and four half-centuries. He finished with 387 rating points, the highest ever in the history of the MVP system. 

Most Valuable Player by Team

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) have been the teams with the joint most number of MVPs since the award’s inception a decade back. Two of their cricketers have won three most valuable ipl player awards, with one of them bagging the prestigious award twice. That cricketer happens to be the most savage destroyer of opposition bowling and field settings. He is none other than Andre Russell, the West Indies and KKR giant, with the MVP awards won in IPL 2015 and IPL 2019. The other of KKR’s MVP recipients is Sunil Narine, another Caribbean T20 giant, who, with his mystery spin and pinch-hitting abilities, won the most valuable player in ipl 2018. 

The Royals have also had three different recipients of the coveted title in three seasons. They were the first to produce a most valuable player in IPL when the allround excellence of Shane Watson propelled him to the award back in 2013 with 386 rating points. It took Royals nearly another decade to produce one more MVP in the IPL. Still, once they did, both were arguably the finest IPL performance in recent times, with the smashing Jos Buttler ending as the most valuable ipl 2022 cricketer with 387 rating points. Two years before him, it was the turn of England speedster Jofra Archer to finish as the most valuable player in ipl 2020 with 20 wickets and a points tally of 307 points.

The team with the second most number of MVPs is Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Their first most valuable player award was won in ipl 2016 by their then-skipper, and batting stalwart Virat Kohli, who had an unmatched tally of 973 runs made that year and finished with a tally of 356.5 rating points. The next RCB cricketer to receive the MVP in the IPL came in IPL 2021 when their pacer Harshal Patel took a whopping 32 wickets and ended with a points tally of 264.5. While Kohli bagged the award by outpowering everyone else with the bat in hand, Patel won the honours for consistently chipping away at the wickets column throughout the RCB campaign. 

The other two of the ten MVP awards have been won by standalone entities from two unique franchises. One is the then Punjab batting stalwart Glenn Maxwell, whose spectacular campaign back in ipl 2016 saw him receive the most valuable player crown with 286 rating points. The other is England’s premier allrounder Ben Stokes with his exceptional allround performances for Rising Pune Super Giants in IPL 2017 where he ended with rating points worth 270. 

Conclusion

It goes without saying that the MVP award is given to the most impactful player in his team. The award takes into account performances and contributions in all the departments of the game, with points assigned to the number of boundaries struck, wickets taken, and even the fielding efforts made in securing the dismissals for the side. 

It’s also a very difficult award to achieve, but we have still had names managing to reach the peak, outshining everyone else with their contributions. These MVPs are the most invaluable cricketers of their teams because their influence goes deeper into the contest than most players. These recipients and their performances deserve to be savoured and celebrated in times to follow. 

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