Putting a dollar figure on IPL player performances

Now that the fifth season of the Indian Premier League has ended, it is time to analyze which players were worth the money spent on them.

Here is how we went about putting a dollar figure on the player performance for this year’s IPL:

First, we calculated the batting and bowling Runs Above Average (RAA) for all the players, and then converted the two RAA values to Wins. The procedure for computing RAA and Wins for a player was described in a previous blog post. Summing up the batting and bowling Wins of a player, we obtained the total Wins for the player.
Next, we compiled the salary information of the IPL players. This turned out to be somewhat difficult, as the IPL itself does not officially release the player salary information. We were able to compile this information from third party sources, mostly from this Wikipedia page.
The total money spent by the nine IPL franchisees on the players turns out to be $73,335,000. This is the total money that the teams spend on signing the players, and is not pro-rated according to the actual playing time of the players. Nevertheless, this figure is useful in arriving at a ballpark estimate of the player values.
There were 76 total matches in the fifth season of the IPL. Each of the 9 teams were fighting for the same share of the 76 wins. Therefore the value of one win comes out to be $73,335,000 / 9 = $ 964,934 (almost a million dollars!)
We multiply the value of a win to the total wins of a player to obtain the true value of the player. The players are then ranked based on this value. The table below shows the rank as well as the value of the player based on the Wins statistic.

Rank	Player	Batting RAA	Bowling RAA	Total RAA	Total Wins	Actual Salary	Value
1	CH Gayle	436	-66	370	1.520	650,000	1,466,865
2	SP Narine	-16	359	343	1.198	700,000	1,156,129
3	S Dhawan	220	30	251	0.992	300,000	957,311
4	AM Rahane	211	0	211	0.849	20,000	819,357
5	G Gambhir	193	0	193	0.774	2,400,000	746,510
6	CL White	205	-27	178	0.729	1,100,000	703,416
7	M Morkel	-47	259	212	0.721	475,000	695,670
8	SL Malinga	-94	275	181	0.588	1,100,000	567,438
9	BW Hilfenhaus	0	165	165	0.578	100,000	557,836
10	DJ Bravo	173	-35	138	0.571	200,000	551,322
11	SPD Smith	139	-5	134	0.540	200,000	521,410
12	KP Pietersen	181	-53	128	0.539	650,000	519,925
13	L Balaji	0	152	152	0.535	500,000	515,767
14	AB de Villiers	118	0	118	0.473	1,100,000	456,578
15	DJ Hussey	97	21	119	0.466	1,400,000	449,338
16	OA Shah	116	0	116	0.466	200,000	449,220
17	SR Watson	106	9	114	0.455	1,300,000	439,196
18	AT Rayudu	109	0	109	0.437	20,000	422,092
19	DS Kulkarni	10	107	117	0.415	20,000	400,807
20	JP Duminy	169	-76	94	0.415	300,000	400,152
21	M Muralitharan	-44	167	123	0.411	220,000	396,476
22	P Awana	4	111	115	0.406	20,000	391,720
23	DW Steyn	-105	227	122	0.375	1,200,000	362,128
24	KA Pollard	-3	105	101	0.355	900,000	342,326
25	F du Plessis	99	-16	83	0.342	120,000	330,290
26	K Cooper	-12	111	99	0.341	50,000	329,495
27	V Sehwag	122	-45	77	0.330	1,800,000	318,444
28	DA Warner	82	0	82	0.328	750,000	316,667
29	RJ Harris	-7	98	91	0.316	325,000	304,617
30	RG Sharma	84	-16	68	0.283	2,000,000	272,945
31	Shakib Al Hasan	-58	147	88	0.281	425,000	270,736
32	AB McDonald	-3	81	79	0.275	80,000	264,887
33	R Dravid	64	0	64	0.256	500,000	246,574
34	MEK Hussey	62	0	62	0.248	425,000	239,551
35	SE Marsh	61	0	61	0.245	400,000	236,856
36	MS Dhoni	59	0	59	0.238	1,800,000	229,499
37	DAJ Bracewell	12	53	65	0.236	50,000	227,532
38	BJ Hodge	47	7	54	0.214	475,000	206,740
39	MM Patel	1	59	60	0.211	700,000	204,053
40	AB Dinda	-23	86	63	0.211	375,000	203,535
41	DB Das	52	0	52	0.210	20,000	202,705
42	SR Tendulkar	50	0	50	0.201	1,800,000	194,226
43	A Chandila	0	56	56	0.198	20,000	190,996
44	P Parameswaran	0	55	55	0.194	20,000	187,607
45	AC Gilchrist	48	0	48	0.191	900,000	184,114
46	Azhar Mahmood	-13	69	55	0.188	200,000	181,364
47	JEC Franklin	-3	50	47	0.163	100,000	156,907
48	DE Bollinger	-22	71	49	0.161	700,000	154,977
49	MS Bisla	39	0	39	0.155	20,000	150,022
50	DPMD Jayawardene	36	0	36	0.145	1,400,000	140,363
51	Mandeep Singh	34	0	34	0.135	20,000	130,310
52	RV Uthappa	32	0	32	0.127	2,100,000	122,166
53	HH Gibbs	31	0	31	0.125	50,000	120,927
54	JH Kallis	12	22	34	0.124	1,100,000	119,827
55	UT Yadav	-48	89	41	0.120	20,000	116,223
56	P Negi	-14	48	34	0.114	20,000	110,216
57	SW Tait	0	32	32	0.112	300,000	107,862
58	DR Smith	57	-38	19	0.097	100,000	93,489
59	DA Miller	23	0	23	0.094	100,000	90,316
60	KMDN Kulasekara	5	20	25	0.090	100,000	86,767
61	AD Mascarenhas	-61	94	34	0.087	100,000	84,365
62	S Badrinath	22	0	22	0.087	800,000	84,139
63	S Anirudha	20	0	20	0.080	20,000	77,509
64	KP Appanna	0	23	23	0.080	20,000	77,360
65	Y Nagar	29	-10	19	0.079	20,000	76,588
66	M Manhas	19	0	19	0.078	20,000	75,208
67	TM Dilshan	86	-77	9	0.074	650,000	71,595
68	DT Christian	22	-5	16	0.068	900,000	65,617
69	M Vijay	14	0	14	0.058	900,000	55,496
70	Pankaj Singh	0	16	16	0.057	95,000	55,231
71	Gurkeerat Singh	11	0	11	0.045	20,000	43,810
72	MK Tiwary	11	0	11	0.044	475,000	42,689
73	AJ Finch	5	0	5	0.021	300,000	20,164
74	VY Mahesh	0	4	4	0.015	20,000	14,955
75	A Ashish Reddy	-65	76	12	0.008	20,000	7,856
76	BB Samantray	2	0	2	0.008	20,000	7,751
77	JP Faulkner	-11	13	3	0.003	190,000	3,221
78	DH Yagnik	0	0	0	0.000	20,000	393
79	J Theron	7	-9	-2	-0.004	85,000	-3,572
80	SK Trivedi	5	-7	-2	-0.004	20,000	-3,935
81	V Kohli	41	-49	-8	-0.006	1,800,000	-5,937
82	PA Reddy	-2	0	-2	-0.007	20,000	-6,571
83	Harmeet Singh	-10	8	-2	-0.011	20,000	-10,244
84	RE van der Merwe	0	-3	-3	-0.011	50,000	-10,365
85	STR Binny	-10	7	-2	-0.012	20,000	-12,058
86	R Vinay Kumar	-56	61	4	-0.013	1,000,000	-12,374
87	AG Murtaza	3	-11	-8	-0.027	20,000	-25,655
88	GB Hogg	-35	32	-3	-0.028	180,000	-27,387
89	SS Tiwary	-7	0	-7	-0.029	1,600,000	-27,856
90	SD Chitnis	-9	0	-9	-0.035	20,000	-33,699
91	BB McCullum	-10	0	-10	-0.039	900,000	-37,909
92	Z Khan	-38	31	-7	-0.043	900,000	-41,399
93	M Kaif	-11	0	-11	-0.044	130,000	-42,237
94	DJ Harris	11	-26	-15	-0.046	70,000	-43,915
95	PJ Sangwan	0	-14	-14	-0.048	20,000	-45,853
96	AP Majumdar	-13	0	-13	-0.051	20,000	-48,807
97	GJ Maxwell	-19	6	-12	-0.053	20,000	-51,309
98	U Chand	-14	0	-14	-0.055	20,000	-53,470
99	PP Ojha	-46	36	-10	-0.057	500,000	-54,667
100	AN Ahmed	0	-17	-17	-0.060	20,000	-57,616
101	AB Agarkar	0	-20	-20	-0.071	210,000	-68,179
102	K Upadhyay	11	-33	-22	-0.072	20,000	-69,213
103	NV Ojha	-18	0	-18	-0.072	270,000	-69,306
104	WP Saha	-19	0	-19	-0.076	100,000	-73,241
105	CA Lynn	-19	0	-19	-0.076	20,000	-73,241
106	Harpreet Singh	-19	0	-19	-0.076	20,000	-73,241
107	M de Lange	0	-23	-23	-0.079	50,000	-76,553
108	MD Mishra	-21	0	-21	-0.084	20,000	-80,992
109	LJ Wright	0	-24	-24	-0.084	20,000	-81,341
110	Anand Rajan	0	-25	-25	-0.086	20,000	-83,331
111	Iqbal Abdulla	2	-30	-28	-0.098	20,000	-94,320
112	AC Blizzard	-25	0	-25	-0.100	20,000	-96,493
113	SA Yadav	-25	0	-25	-0.100	20,000	-96,493
114	DJ Jacobs	-25	0	-25	-0.100	190,000	-96,493
115	SK Raina	18	-49	-31	-0.101	1,300,000	-97,572
116	R Shukla	0	-31	-31	-0.109	20,000	-105,065
117	S Aravind	14	-48	-34	-0.112	20,000	-108,425
118	JD Unadkat	0	-32	-32	-0.112	250,000	-108,454
119	RR Powar	0	-32	-32	-0.112	160,000	-108,454
120	A Mithun	0	-33	-33	-0.116	260,000	-111,843
121	RJ Peterson	-43	15	-27	-0.117	100,000	-113,229
122	JD Ryder	7	-42	-35	-0.118	150,000	-113,563
123	RN ten Doeschate	-35	4	-30	-0.124	150,000	-119,702
124	AUK Pathan	-19	-14	-33	-0.125	20,000	-120,689
125	MK Pandey	-31	0	-31	-0.126	20,000	-121,261
126	AA Jhunjhunwala	-26	-10	-35	-0.137	20,000	-132,271
127	V Pratap Singh	-25	-11	-36	-0.140	20,000	-134,761
128	TL Suman	-35	0	-35	-0.140	20,000	-134,855
129	IR Jaggi	-35	0	-35	-0.140	20,000	-134,855
130	P Dogra	-35	0	-35	-0.140	20,000	-134,855
131	B Chipli	-38	0	-38	-0.151	20,000	-146,088
132	MN Samuels	-49	12	-38	-0.157	20,000	-151,139
133	Y Venugopal Rao	-17	-26	-43	-0.161	700,000	-155,517
134	AA Chavan	-14	-31	-45	-0.164	20,000	-157,924
135	AD Mathews	-47	7	-40	-0.164	950,000	-158,540
136	AM Nayar	-30	-16	-46	-0.175	800,000	-169,311
137	CJ McKay	-17	-32	-48	-0.179	110,000	-172,348
138	NLTC Perera	-21	-27	-48	-0.179	650,000	-172,500
139	DB Ravi Teja	-46	0	-46	-0.184	20,000	-177,485
140	A Singh	-24	-25	-49	-0.185	20,000	-178,334
141	MA Agarwal	-48	0	-48	-0.192	20,000	-185,571
142	AL Menaria	-53	5	-47	-0.193	20,000	-186,406
143	RA Jadeja	-108	68	-40	-0.195	2,000,000	-188,424
144	CJ Ferguson	-50	0	-50	-0.199	300,000	-192,200
145	LRPL Taylor	-52	0	-52	-0.209	1,000,000	-201,466
146	AC Thomas	-31	-25	-55	-0.210	100,000	-202,684
147	J Syed Mohammad	4	-65	-61	-0.212	20,000	-204,796
148	SP Goswami	-55	0	-55	-0.223	20,000	-215,059
149	RR Bhatkal	-25	-35	-60	-0.223	20,000	-215,115
150	R Bhatia	-40	-19	-59	-0.226	20,000	-217,821
151	CA Pujara	-58	0	-58	-0.232	700,000	-223,597
152	MJ Clarke	-50	-10	-60	-0.238	20,000	-229,378
153	LR Shukla	-74	16	-58	-0.241	20,000	-232,477
154	PP Chawla	-93	37	-57	-0.246	900,000	-237,325
155	SB Jakati	7	-80	-73	-0.252	20,000	-243,201
156	BA Bhatt	6	-79	-73	-0.254	20,000	-244,691
157	A Mishra	-59	-7	-66	-0.260	300,000	-250,785
158	Sunny Gupta	-25	-47	-72	-0.265	20,000	-255,786
159	RE Levi	-66	0	-66	-0.267	20,000	-257,296
160	A Nehra	11	-89	-78	-0.268	850,000	-258,399
161	WD Parnell	-81	12	-68	-0.280	160,000	-270,468
162	Bipul Sharma	-3	-79	-82	-0.288	20,000	-278,193
163	RP Singh	-44	-33	-77	-0.293	600,000	-282,564
164	KC Sangakkara	-74	0	-74	-0.297	700,000	-286,333
165	J Botha	-42	-41	-82	-0.310	950,000	-299,346
166	PA Patel	-79	0	-79	-0.317	650,000	-305,710
167	S Nadeem	0	-90	-90	-0.317	20,000	-305,817
168	B Kumar	-35	-52	-87	-0.323	20,000	-311,489
169	JA Morkel	-67	-16	-83	-0.326	20,000	-314,593
170	KD Karthik	-86	0	-86	-0.344	900,000	-332,052
171	R Ashwin	-57	-33	-90	-0.345	850,000	-332,946
172	VR Aaron	-49	-43	-92	-0.348	20,000	-335,636
173	TP Sudhindra	0	-108	-108	-0.378	20,000	-364,437
174	B Lee	-8	-101	-109	-0.385	400,000	-371,522
175	Ankit Sharma	-57	-51	-108	-0.407	20,000	-392,965
176	M Kartik	26	-152	-126	-0.430	400,000	-414,790
177	N Saini	-108	0	-108	-0.434	20,000	-418,492
178	HV Patel	-35	-84	-119	-0.434	20,000	-418,740
179	AD Russell	-2	-134	-135	-0.476	450,000	-459,520
180	MS Gony	-21	-123	-143	-0.515	290,000	-496,464
181	PC Valthaty	-119	-16	-135	-0.536	20,000	-516,923
182	R Sharma	-98	-44	-141	-0.546	20,000	-526,541
183	SC Ganguly	-105	-38	-144	-0.557	400,000	-537,761
184	YK Pathan	-55	-97	-152	-0.560	2,100,000	-540,446
185	DL Vettori	-69	-94	-162	-0.604	550,000	-583,217
186	P Kumar	-39	-178	-216	-0.780	800,000	-752,433
187	IK Pathan	2	-238	-237	-0.830	1,900,000	-800,788
188	Harbhajan Singh	-116	-214	-330	-1.218	1,300,000	-1,175,769

Chris Gayle totally blows away the competition by accumulating 1.520 wins and a total value of $1.47M. Fellow West Indian player Sunil Narine grabs the second spot (first among the bowlers), with a total value of $1.16M. No other player crosses the $1M mark.

The least valuable player in the tournament? Well, Harbhajan Singh takes the bottom spot with a total value of – $1.17M. He was paid $1.3M in salary. Talk about sunk costs!

3 thoughts on “Putting a dollar figure on IPL player performances”

Siddharth Kirtikar May 30, 2012 at 9:32 AM

Top spots … quite intuitive … Gayle and Bhajji (may be not so much). Gambhir vs Dhawan total mismatch. Gambhir had SR ~ 146, whereas, KKR bowling and batting overall economy rate was close to 7.00 ~= 116 (lowest of all). Dhawan had SR ~ 130, and DC games where mostly high scoring.

Check this out:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvwWgn7MZoPQdFdsek85aS00X2NPLXljZTI2bnBjdGc
Read “Rating” as your RAA per innings
Siddharth Kirtikar May 30, 2012 at 9:36 AM

Also, I believe Rahane is in the 60K $ cap … since 2011.
1. Shashi Mittal May 31, 2012 at 1:59 AM
  
  Is that because Rahane is now a capped Indian player? I had taken the salary of all the players for whom I could not find any salary information (Rahane was one of them) to be $20K.

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