Punjab Kings (PBKS) have now lost three in a row in IPL 2026 after going unbeaten through the first half of the group stage, and catching - or not catching - is one of the reasons for it. It has been a problem right through, and head coach Ricky Ponting has spoken about it, but as Katey Martin said, "it's an infection" now. Shashank Singh has been a repeat offender, but against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Wednesday, Lockie Ferguson and Cooper Connolly joined Shashank in putting down simple chances that helped SRH get to 235, and win by 33 runs.
Shreyas Iyer, the PBKS captain, called the dropped catches "the biggest setback". Speaking to the broadcaster after the game, he suggested that PBKS might have been chasing "30-40 runs" fewer had the catches been taken.
Speaking groundside during the SRH innings, Ponting said what Martin would say later: "it's like a virus". "We've put a lot of catches down so far this season. The boys have worked exceptionally hard and, you know, poor old Shashank there," Ponting said. "It just looks like the ball is following him around everywhere he goes."
According to ESPNcricinfo logs, PBKS have dropped 16 out of 56 chances so far this season, the joint-highest alongside Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Their catch efficiency of 71.43% is the poorest of the ten teams.
"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," Sairaj Bahutule, the PBKS spin-bowling coach, said in the press conference after the game. "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.
"I think definitely catching could have changed the momentum of the game. There would have been fresh batters on the pitch and we could have executed our plans more effectively and then ended up maybe giving more than 50 runs less."
The first chance went down in the eighth over when Kishan pulled Ferguson to Connolly at deep square-leg, Connolly waited, got under the ball nicely, and then let it burst through. It was Shashank next, in the ninth over, and this one was a dolly from Klaasen off Yuzvendra Chahal at long leg. The third came in the 11th over, off Chahal again, when Ferguson didn't seem to judge the catch right at fine leg and out it went. Prabhsimran Singh also missed a tough stumping chance in that over.
Kishan was on nine off nine balls when he was dropped the first time, and on 18 off 14 the second time. He finished with 55 in 32 balls. And Klaasen, when he was let off, was on nine from six balls when Shashank put him down. He scored 69 in 43.
Speaking about Shashank specifically, Bahutule said, "Sometimes a player, for example, is not getting runs, there are a few innings [in] which he doesn't get runs and he starts thinking as to why he's not getting runs; a bowler also starts getting hit and he wonders as to what is the reason why I'm getting hit. Fielding is the same thing - if you keep dropping catches there is a sort of doubt created in the mind in terms of whether I'm catching properly or am I taking the pressure, am I being too anxious… things like that come creeping [in].
"But I think all the players of our team, they are well-equipped in terms of handling pressure and the way they have been doing so well in the fielding in the first half, it has been exceptional. So again, I think it's important that we go back and reflect on things as to how we can have the right person at the right place or tweak it around."
At the ESPNcricinfo studios, Martin and Deep Dasgupta wondered if the issue was a technical one. Or was it the lights?
"Technically, they were really poor in terms of the way that they were catching… and whether that was an indication that [perhaps] the lights are a little bit lower," Martin said on TimeOut. "When you've got guys that are reaching out like that [not getting under the ball] - Lockie Ferguson was similar - as a player, you decide whether you want to go reverse cup or not. I know it is the Australian way so when you get the opportunity, you can get it and have an opportunity to take it again if it does fall out. But he sort of caught over his back shoulder. [And] was there some issues with visually seeing the ball?"
Deep Dasgupta and Katey Martin on the spinner's performance against SRH
Bahutule certainly seemed to suggest that. "Fielding under lights is not easy because the ball comes out from the lights as well as from the crowd. The higher it goes, obviously it's going to fall down as quickly as possible and the gravity will obviously take its toll," he said. "But being a professional player, you should understand the technique, understand the method in which every ball which goes up has to be caught. So I think players are aware of it is the question of just executing it."
And Shashank? Not the only culprit in this game, but certainly a player who might be excused for not wanting the ball to come his way in the field.
"I've been in that position as well, where you've dropped a couple and then you're thinking, 'jeez, I hope I don't drop another one', and suddenly, rather than wanting the ball to come at you, you're trying to stay away from it," Dasgupta said. "That negative mindset, your body then starts reacting that way and maybe that's the case with Shashank right now.
"Generally speaking, he's a very safe catcher. It's not that he's a bad fielder. It's a difficult one to get out of as well. He needs one good, confident catch, proper technique and everything else, just for him to start feeling good again. Fielding is an attitude thing and I think the worst feeling in the world is that you don't want the ball. So when you don't want the ball, you start sort of shying away and not maybe getting yourself into positions."