So far this season, roughly one out of four chances have been put down
Namooh Shah22-Apr-20253:05
IPL 2025 so far: CSK’s Chepauk shocker, Shreyas’ impressive captaincy
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.Which teams have struggled the most?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.ESPNcricinfo LtdThe butterfingered fieldersAmong 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.