Dubai: Ravindra Jadeja has proven his worth as the costliest Indian Premier League (IPL) player by top scoring for Chennai Super Kings with a fighting 48 runs and through a deadly five wicket spell against Deccan Chargers to ensure a 74-runs victory on Saturday.

Jadeja had fetched the highest bid in the IPL 2012 auction, beating Deccan Chargers, the very team he destroyed on Saturday, in a secret tiebreaker. In fact, he fetched more money than Mahela Jayawardene who went to Delhi Daredevils for $1.4 million and medium-pacer Vinay Kumar to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1 million.

Jadeja was playing for the banned Kochi Tuskers team. In fact, Kochi had got him for only $950,000.

Through consistent performance, especially in the IPL he has climbed up to become the most valuable player. How is this players who has hardly performed for India in international matches the most valuable IPL player?

It has been a roller coaster ride for Jadeja. Banned from the 2010 tournament due to a contractual dispute, he has progressed steadily as a fine allrounder. Speaking after his five wicket spell on Saturday he said: "I am happy with what I did on the field today. Taking five wickets is an achievement in any form of the game and I am happy about that. I just didn't want to give easy runs. That was the motive when I went bowl and things fell in place,"

Jadeja is only 23 years old and has become the richest cricketer in his age group that too without even having played Test cricket. For the last four years his bank account has been swelling every year.

Thanks to IPL he has made more money than playing for India. When some critics even said that he did not deserve a place in the Indian team but for Dhoni's strange liking for him.

Whatever it is Jadeja has made Dhoni, the skipper of Chennai Super Kings happy especially after their team's defeat to Mumbai in the first match. Jadeja showed his calibre in the inaugural season of the IPL in 2008 and won praise from none other than the legendary Shane Warne, who was the captain and coach of the team.

Incidentally, Warne even gave him the nickname "Rockstar" for his impressive performance. It was his performance in the 2008 IPL final that defeated the very Chennai Super Kings that he is playing for now and helped Rajasthan win the title. It was his performance in this match that made him Dhoni's favourite too.

However for India he has not been as effective as in IPL and has take only 57 wickets from 58 matches and scored just 860 runs. What landed Dhoni in trouble is that from the first 20 One-dayers Jadeja did not get a single half century and till this date hasn't scored a century. So what is it that makes him special in IPL?

Jadeja is an ideal player for IPL not just because of his batting and bowling but he is the best fielders in the country too. Whenever he has clicked in any one of the departments the team has won. Incidentally, his 48 runs against Deccan Chargers came off just 29 balls with three boundaries and three sixes and he took five wickets in just four overs.

Who would not mind paying $2million for such a player?