Analysis in the new issue of Wisden Cricket Monthly reveals Ravindra Jadeja to be India’s most valuable player in Test cricket in the 21st century.

Based exclusively on CricViz’s market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket has been awarded an ‘MVP rating’ using a statistical model to rank their ‘match impact’ compared to their peers.

“It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India’s spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India’s number one,” said CricViz’s Freddie Wilde. “After all, he’s not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 – contributing to a very high match involvement.

“But Jadeja’s position is based on more than simply volume: it’s what he does when he’s involved that really counts. The 31-year-old’s bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne’s and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson’s. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality.”

Jadeja, with an MVP rating of 97.3, has played in 49 Tests from 2012, scoring 1,869, including one century in that time. He has also picked up 213 Test wickets. The 31-year-old was also rated as the second most valuable Test player worldwide, behind only Sri Lanka legend Muttiah Muralitharan.

“The dominance of home performances which debits Anderson and Broad in our model also applies to Jadeja,” added Wilde. “However, the difference is that while Anderson, and to a lesser extent Broad, are excellent at home, Jadeja is exceptional, and in conditions that are less dominated by spin than they are by pace in England. In addition to his sensational bowling numbers, he also contributes considerably with the bat.

“Jadeja’s superb bowling numbers in India are partly a product of his ability to make an impact early in a match. Unusually for a spinner, his highest bowling impact actually comes in the first innings. Jadeja also has a superb record against top-order batsmen in India, whose wickets are worth more according to our match impact measure.”

To read the feature in full, including CricViz’s ODI and T20 MVPs of the century, pick up a copy of the July edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly, available to buy in print and digital formats

Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly (print version) here
Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly (digital version) here