Kohli, Perera in exalted company

Virat Kohli, who scored his 12th ODI century (fourth in 2012) and set up India's comfortable win in the first ODI, has won 11 Man-of-the-Match awards so far in his career, in just 87 matches. Since 2011, he has won seven awards in just 47 matches. However, the rise of Thisara Perera, who was Man-of-the-match in the second ODI, is even more astonishing. In just 41 ODIs, Perera has won six awards, including five in 26 matches since the beginning of 2011. In the heavily batsman-dominated ODI format, it is, however, no surprise that majority of the awards have been won by batsmen and allrounders. With Perera and Kohli winning awards at an exceptionally good rate (one in seven and eight matches respectively), here's how they compare with the other top players in ODIs over the years.

Sachin Tendulkar, by far the highest run-getter and century-scorer in ODIs, has won a remarkable 62 awards in 463 matches, which translates into a rate of 7.46 matches per award. Tendulkar, however is third on the list of batsmen with the best rates of winning match awards. Viv Richards, who maintained a 90-plus strike rate in a period when the rest of the top-order (1-7) batsmen managed a corresponding figure just over 65, ended with 31 awards in 187 matches (rate of 6.03). He is followed by Gordon Greenidge, who was Player-of-the-Match 20 times in just 128 matches (rate of 6.40). Martin Crowe, the leading run-getter in the 1992 World Cup, is fourth (rate of 7.52) and is followed by Virat Kohli (7.90). Although not the most consistent, Nathan Astle, one of New Zealand's best matchwinners in the shorter form, won 25 awards in 223 matches (8.92). The top ten is rounded off by Sanath Jayasuriya, who has won 48 awards in 445 games (rate of 9.27). Jayasuriya took time to find his feet in international cricket winning only four awards in his first 91 matches (till the end of 1995). Since the start of 1996, however, he went on to win 44 awards in 354 matches at an excellent rate of 8.04.

Bowlers have hardly been able to keep up with the batsmen in the shorter format, though Glenn McGrath is a notable exception especially in World Cup matches. In a list dominated yet again by batsmen and allrounders, McGrath stands out with six awards in 39 matches including a series award in 2007. Shane Warne, who was Player-of-the-Match in both the 1999 semi-final and final, also has an excellent rate (four awards in 17 matches). The World Cup match award stats, however, have been dominated by Lance Klusener, who won five awards in just 14 matches (rate of 2.80).

Although he has played a majority of his matches against lower-ranked teams, Ryan ten Doeschate of Netherlands has the best rate of winning awards (4.71) among players who have won between five and nine awards. Glenn Turner, with seven awards in 41 matches and Chris Broad, with five in 34 games, are second and third. Among contemporary players (top teams), Perera and Hashim Amla are on top, with rates of 6.83 and 7.12 respectively. The top-ten list is rounded off by Greg Chappell and Alastair Cook, who have won nine and six awards in 74 and 51 matches respectively.

Jayasuriya, who has won the second-highest number of match awards (48) after Tendulkar, has done even better in matches when he has been captain. In 118 matches when he has captained Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya has won 19 match awards at an excellent rate of 6.21 matches per award. Ricky Ponting, the most successful ODI captain, and Arjuna Ranatunga, have also won 19 match awards as captain but have taken far more matches than Jayasuriya to do so. Richards, who won 14 awards in 105 matches as captain, has the second-best award rate (7.50).

Click here to download the complete list of players with the best rates of winning match awards in ODIs.