In a season where batters are lighting up the skies and bowlers are scraping for survival, one silent crisis is shifting the course of the IPL—and no one seems to be talking about it loud enough.
Catching has gone rogue. IPL 2025 has witnessed 111 dropped catches in just 40 matches—the highest at this stage since 2020. The catching efficiency stands at a worrying 75.2%, down sharply from 85.5% in 2021. That means one in every four chances is being fluffed—not on freak days, but night after night, match after match.
And the issue isn’t just individual lapses—it’s a league-wide pattern. CSK, a five-time champion, has seen its catching success plummet to 64.3%. Venues like Jaipur and Delhi have become hotspots for fielding disasters—Jaipur, in particular, has a stunning 42.9% catch success rate, with more drops than completions.
What makes this trend more damaging is that the cost of a single drop has never been higher. In this era of high-octane scoring, a reprieve can mean 30, 50, even 100 extra runs. Ayush Badoni, Virat Kohli, Abhishek Sharma—each has capitalized on dropped chances this season to turn games upside down. Sharma, in fact, was dropped on 57 before hammering 141 in a record chase.
But this isn’t just about nerves or bad luck. The truth is starker: fielding isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Teams are investing in analytics for power hitting and death overs, but fielding still operates like it’s 2015—basic drills, no mental conditioning, no pressure-specific training.
In the IPL, where margins are microscopic and millions ride on moments, fielding can no longer be the forgotten third skill. IPL 2025 has made one thing painfully clear: you can’t win titles if you can’t hold on to the basics.
