Dropping catching standards in IPL - repeat offenders, biggest beneficiaries, and more

Batting standards have been continuously improving in the IPL with more sixes and higher run rates being achieved every year, but the same can't be said about the fielding standards. After 39 games this season, 103 out of 431 chances have been spilled, resulting in a catching efficiency of just 76.1%, the worst the league has seen at a similar stage in the last five years.

In fact, catching efficiency has dropped season-on-season over the last five years. In 2021, 85.5% of total catching chances were taken. That number has now gone down considerably. This season has already seen two matches where nine catches were dropped: in the Rajasthan Royals (RR) vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) game in Jaipur, and the Punjab Kings (PBKS) vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) match in Mullanpur. According to ESPNcricinfo's logs, those are the most catches dropped in a match in IPL history. The previous worst was eight, in the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) game at Eden Gardens in 2023.

The teams at the bottom of the points table are also the ones struggling to hold on to their catches. CSK have an abysmal 64.3% catching efficiency, while RR haven't done much better either. For CSK, some of those missed chances have cost them heavily: PBKS' Priyansh Arya was dropped second ball and went on to score a hundred, while RCB's Rajat Patidar was reprieved on 18 and scored a half-century. Both went on to win Player-of-the-Match awards.

Among those who have had four or more catching chances, Yuzvendra Chahal (PBKS), Vijay Shankar (CSK) have fared the worst. Just below them are Abdul Samad (Lucknow Super Giants) and Vaibhav Arora (KKR). One of the chances Chahal missed was of SRH's Abhishek Sharma, on 57; he went on to score 141 in a successful chase of 246.

KKR's Harshit Rana and RR's Sandeep Sharma have had the misfortune of seeing five chances off their bowling go down, adding to their teams' struggles. One of the drops off Sandeep's bowling was of Virat Kohli. He was dropped on 7 by Riyan Parag and went on to score an unbeaten 62 to win the game for RCB.

RR have been the luckiest side so far with 17 chances of their batters being put down. That has given their batters the luxury of second, and sometimes third, lives. Those chances haven't done too much to lift their standing in the points table, though. Gujarat Titans (GT), Delhi Capitals (DC) - both of whom are in the top four in the points table - and Mumbai Indians (MI) have also benefitted a lot from poor fielding.

Arya and RR's Shimron Hetmyer have turned out to be the luckiest batters so far this season, being reprieved five times each. Three of Arya's reprieves came during his hundred against CSK. KL Rahul (vs RCB), Ashutosh Sharma (vs LSG) and Abhishek Sharma (vs PBKS) also capitalised on dropped chances to turn the game around.

In Jaipur, more catches have been dropped (12) than taken (nine), with RR accounting for six drops in two games. The 42.9% catching efficiency makes it the worst venue for fielders. The next on the list is the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi with a catching efficiency of 54.2%.