IPL 2018: Does Shane Watson deserve to be at the top of the MVP list this season?

It was just past 6 PM on 5 May 2018 when Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson walked out to bat, looking to chase 128 against RCB. 15 minutes later, Watson was back in the hut, having fallen to a near perfect, full-length Umesh Yadav out-swinger. He hit two fours in his 11 run innings, adding five player points to his profile, taking him to 215.5 points off 10 matches.

After watching the burly all-rounder play for over 10 years, the sight of him walking back after an unsatisfactory innings has become commonplace, much like Dhoni's heroics that the CSK fan has come to expect. What surprises the viewers perhaps is the occasional 'Shane'storm, the kind that the Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils, both languishing at the bottom of the table, were subjected to in this edition of the IPL.

And yet, Watson remains the only player to have won the Most Valuable Player of the Season award twice in the history of the Indian Premier League (in 2008 and 2013), and remains at the top of the player points table in 2018, as of May 6, 17:25 hours.

When earlier this year CSK picked Shane Watson for 4 crore, 4 times his base price, many fans were surprised. Watson's 2017 IPL season had been disastrous, to say the least. In the 8 matches that he played for the RCB, he averaged under 12 with the bat and leaked over 9 runs an over.

His stay at Bangalore was so dismal in fact that when, against KKR on 10 April 2018, he hammered a quickfire 42, it was his highest score in two years. The word is that captain cool himself instructed the auction team to get hold of the two-time World Cup winner.

Watson's reputation as an all-rounder par excellence has remained intact for over a decade now

Watson has three IPL hundreds to his credit, and a reputation (mostly among commentators) of being an extremely dangerous batsman and a very handy swing bowler. But a close look at his IPL record reveals that the Aussie has never scored more than two fifties in an IPL season barring the maiden edition when he hit four.

There is no 'form' for Shane Watson. There is only 'his day' and 'not his day', the former being much rarer than the latter. Unsurprisingly, 'Watto' is hardly as popular as the other match-winners that he is compared to by the commentators. Most fans are indifferent to his place in the squad, as long as he doesn't leak too many runs.

How then does one decipher his success, his reputation as a dangerous opening batsman, and the best all-rounder of the T20 format? Once again, you turn to the stats.

Watson averages 21.5 points per match, much higher than the other 'great' all-rounders playing in this edition - Andre Russell, who earns 17.2 points a match, the Pandya brothers, who earn just over 16 points per match and Shakib Al Hasan, averaging 15 points/match.

But stats don't tell you the entire story. Watson opens the batting, while the others come in much later. With the ball, 'Watto' fares the worst among the aforementioned all-rounders. Thus, anyone with a passing knowledge of cricket would doubt the IPL's rating system for choosing the MVP.

The Russells and Shakibs of the world are much more valuable to their sides than a Watson is. Consider this: in match 35 of this season, between RCB and CSK, the Aussie didn't bowl at all, and scored a mere 11 runs with the bat. How, then, is he a valuable player, if his team can win comprehensively without even a teeny contribution from him?

CSK's MVP should ideally be Dhoni or Rayudu, and both are, in fact, outside of the IPL website, the Lions' most valuable players.

It is high time that the criterion was reformed and a parameter of impact on the match was factored in. (A sitter in the slip and a blinder pulled out of the air near the boundary like Boult did against RCB in Match 19 cannot really be given the same points under the 'catches taken' column).

A look at the player points table shows that the rating criteria are stacked heavily in favour of an inconsistent but hard-hitting opener like Shane Watson or a pinch-hitting bowler that opens the innings like Sunil Narine. Both of these players are, in fact, at the top of the table.

Hardik Pandya, who is leading the race for the Purple Cap, and Andre Russell, who has proved his mettle with the bat and the ball more often than Watson has in this edition, continue to lag behind. A smattering of boundaries every innings and an occasional wicket here and there continue to keep Watson at the top of the MVP list, although his impact on the match remains negligible.

Is 'Watto' still the match-winner that he once was?

But this hasn't always been the case. A look at Watson's 2013 and 2008 numbers show that he was indeed the deserving winner - his impact with both the bat and the ball was immense, and in the process, he also fulfilled the MVP criteria of sixes, fours, dot balls bowled and wickets taken, quite satisfactorily.

And yet, if in this season Watson averages 32 with the bat and leaks over 9 runs per over with the ball, and manages to become the MVP, statisticians will look at the IPL MVP criteria and Watson's luck (that often runs out while he is batting) with amazement.

Meanwhile, the real impact makers will rule the fans' hearts and Shane Watson will remain an 'overrated', 'over-awarded' 'match-winner' with performances that won't reflect the true worth of the trophy.