Most valuable player in each season of IPL

Cricket's one of the biggest festivals is set to start from March 26 onwards. Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and runner ups Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will clash against each other at the Wankhede Stadium.

The Most Valuable Player in IPL is the cricketer who earns the most points on the MVP Chart of a particular season. Before the 2013 season, the best player of an IPL season received the 'IPL Man of the Series' title. However, the organizers changed it to the IPL Most Valuable Player in 2013.

How do players get the IPL Most Valuable Player award?

There is a special rating system, under which the cricketers earn points for fours, sixes, wickets, catches, dot balls, and stumpings. For every four, the player gets 2.5 points, while a maximum earns him 3.5 points.

A catch or a stumping is equal to 2.5 points, and a wicket gets the player 3.5 points. The bowler earns one point for every dot ball bowled. The leader of this standing takes the IPL Most Valuable Player trophy home.

Also Read: IPL 2022 Full schedule and fixture in PDF

Here SportzPOint presents you the Most Valuable Player in each season of IPL since the award's inception in 2013.

Shane Watson | 2013

Former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson won the Most Valuable Player award in its inaugural edition in 2013. Watson had undone the damage to his IPL prospects that year with all-round performance for the Rajasthan Royals. With 22 sixes, 59 boundaries, 6 catches, and 13 wickets, Watson edged past the big Chris Gayle by 37 points to clinch the Most Valuable Player once again.

A packed Chennai crowd also witnessed Shane Watson's first IPL 100. Incidentally, Watson's 61-ball 101 was also the first century of the 2013 edition of the IPL

Glenn Maxwell | 2014

After failing to find a spot on the Australian side in 2014, Glenn Maxwell staged a fantastic show in the 7th edition of the IPL. The all-rounder Maxwell scored as many as 552 runs in the tournament, during which he also smashed 36 sixes and 48 fours, all at a strike rate of 187.75.

The Aussie fell agonizingly short of a maiden IPL century – he blasted CSK's bowlers to get to a 38-ball 95. Although Kings XI Punjab lost in a thrilling final against the Knight Riders, Glenn Maxwell would have cherished the 2014 season of the IPL for his stellar run.

Read Also: The highest run-getter in every season of IPL till now

Andre Russell | 2015

Kolkata's Caribbean Knight Andre Russell was power personified as far as the 2015 IPL was concerned. The broad-shouldered all-rounder set the IPL on fire with stellar performances lower down the order. Russell was the bright spot of KKR's deep batting order, as the Caribbean genius scored 326 runs through the course of the season.

Russell could brag about his 21-ball 51 against Kings XI Punjab which helped KKR steeple a target of 183. A strike rate of 192.29 stood out in Andre Russell's scintillating season. Don't forget his 14 wickets and 6 catches.

Virat Kohli | 2016

The 9th edition of the IPL pulled every available spotlight on just one man, Virat Kohli. Former Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper was in mint form, as he seemed to have no difficulty in racking up immense runs. Virat Kohli came tantalizingly close to 1,000 runs in a single IPL season, finishing with 973.

En route to yet another blotched IPL final, Kohli hammered 4 centuries – which was the most by a batsman in a single IPL season – and comfortably snapped the Orange Cap. Despite a disappointing end to the season, Virat Kohli had taken the IPL by storm by his insatiable hunger for T20 runs.

Also Read: The highest wicket getter in every season of IPL till now

Ben Stokes | 2017

The tag of 'Most Valuable Player' was attached to Ben Stokes long before he took the field in the 2017 edition of the IPL. Stokes fetched Rs. 14.5 crore and was set to ply his skills for the Rising Pune Supergiant. He didn't disappoint his selectors who invested big money in him. Stokes proved his worth and added the title of Most Valuable Player alongside his already existing tag of Most Expensive Overseas Player.

Although he was dearly missed in the final, Stokes had amassed 316 runs at 31.60 before he left on national duty. The Big Ben lit up the IPL with a stellar century against the Gujarat Lions and was also instrumental in the Pune's impenetrable death-bowling. Stokes bagged a total of 12 wickets while maintaining a miserly economy rate of 7.18.

Suni Narine | 2018

Sunil Narine became the second cricketer after Shane Watson to become the most valuable player of IPL twice. After IPL 2012 he won the prestigious award once again in 2018. By this time he not only proved himself as an excellent bowler but also as a great hard-hitting opener.

He completely justified the roles given to him by giving an extreme start to KKR in the powerplay in most of the matches and also helped the team to reach the playoffs. In 16 matches he scored 357 runs with a strike rate of 189.89 and took 17 wickets with an economy rate of 7.65. One of his most magnificent knocks from IPL 2018 is his half-century in only 17 balls against RCB.

Read Also: Oldest player to score IPL century

Andre Russell | 2019

Once again a player from KKR became the most valuable player of IPL 2019 following Sunil Narine in 2018. Andre Russell also became the third cricketer to be in the MVP award twice in IPL history after Shane Watson and Sunil Narine. By this time, he proved himself as a batter who could win matches in dire situations.

In 2019 IPL Russell completely thrashed boundaries all around and literally played with the opponent bowlers. He aggregated 510 runs in only 14 matches with an out-of-the-ordinary strike rate of 204.81. He not only restricted himself with batting but also picked up 11 wickets for KKR while bowling in the death overs mostly.

Jofra Archer | 2020

Rajasthan Royals' all-rounder Jofra Archer claimed the IPL Most Valuable Player award in 2020. The English player topped the MVP standings with 305 points to his name.

Archer picked up 20 wickets, bowled 175 dot deliveries, smashed five fours and ten sixes as well as took five catches to beat the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rashid Khan to become the Most Valuable Player in IPL 2020. No other player could score 300 MVP points last year.

Also Read: IPL 2022: Players to play each season of IPL

Harshal Patel | 2021

The Most Valuable Player of IPL 2021 is Harshal Patel from Royal Challengers Bangalore. With 264.5 points, the cricketer had an amazing season this year. Starting from taking crucial wickets to winning the Purple Cap, Game-changer of the season, picking the highest number of wickets in IPL, he did it all. He had a dreamy season after making a comeback to RCB from DC. Also, he took a 4 wicket haul and a 5 wicket haul this season as well.

Now, who will grab the "Most Valuable Player" award this year? Take a guess and comment.

N.B: Last updated on 20/03/2022.