A dropped catch can change the complete match strategy where India seems to be very much stuck to it. India has dropped just one catch in the tournaments so far and was the best among all the teams.
K L Rahul dropped the catch against Pakistan, off Chahal’s bowling, is the only catch which was missed out.
The worst dropped catches were of Pakistan, who have dropped 14 catches where 35% of their catching opportunities were lost. The second worst was England, who have dropped 12 catches. New Zealand being top of the list dropped 9 catches and was third worst.
India has made smart work of late to improve their percentage of successful chances, as fielding coach Sridhar revealed.
“We have this points system where we grade catches. Grade one is a straightforward catch that comes to you and earns you one point. Grade two, which gets you two points, is where the fielder needs to move and is under pressure. Grade three is a half-chance — nobody will complain if you don’t take it, but if you do, it’s a game changer. You get four points for a grade three catches. If you drop a straightforward catch, you lose two points. If you drop a grade two, you lose one point from the series kitty. No points are deducted for dropping grade three catches,” – Ramakrishnan Sridhar (Fielding Coach India).
