Punjab Kings looked primed to dominate the early stages of the IPL season, staying unbeaten through their opening seven matches and sitting at the summit of the points table. Their batting and bowling firepower found its most striking form last month when they chased down a landmark 265 against the Delhi Capitals. However, the momentum has slipped since the beginning of this month, with Punjab losing three straight games. While their bowling was widely seen as a key concern, the defeats also highlighted a long-running weakness—one that had been masked during their wins.
One of the clearest indicators of that problem is Punjab’s catching record. Their catch efficiency rate stands at 73.6% this season, which is only ahead of the Delhi Capitals’ 64%. Overall, Punjab have let go of 15 catches, including three dropped chances on Wednesday night at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Those errors proved expensive and played a major role in Punjab’s 33-run loss.
The same night Punjab were overtaken at the top, Shashank Singh—who already had five missed chances to his name this season—was not the only player at fault. Lockie Ferguson and Cooper Connolly also failed to cling on to fairly routine opportunities as SRH moved to the top of the table.
After the disappointing fielding display, SRH wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan—who had been dropped twice during the innings—took a sharp dig at Punjab in an Instagram post that read, “Catch me if you can.”
“The biggest setback”
Punjab captain Shreyas Iyer was direct after the third consecutive defeat, describing the dropped catches as “the biggest setback” and adding that Punjab would have been chasing “30-40 runs fewer” if those chances had been taken.
Kishan, who ultimately struck a half-century, was handed two significant reprieves. The first arrived in the eighth over when he pulled Ferguson and the ball went towards deep square-leg, where Connolly got a chance to take it. The second came in the 11th over when Ferguson misread a catch at fine leg. At the time of the first let-off, Kishan was 9 off 9 balls, and after the second, he had moved to 18 off 14.
Heinrich Klaasen also received another lifeline, while Punjab additionally missed out on a stumping opportunity through wicketkeeper Prabhsimran Singh.
Punjab’s spin-bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule summed up the issue after the match, saying, “It was very important for us to execute our plans and we did execute them. Unfortunately, catches were dropped and I think that hurt us.”
Bahutule further stressed the importance of taking those chances, explaining, “It was very important to take those catches because they are such players [Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen] that if you tend to drop catches, they will score — and score quickly.”
