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Punjab Kings' Catching Woes in IPL 2026 Match vs SRH Decoded by R. Ashwin: 'Ball Was Bouncing Unusually'

Ankit Banerjee | May 7, 2026 4:57 PM CST

SRH vs PBKS, IPL 2026: A total of almost half a dozen catches were dropped by Punjab Kings on Wednesday which hurt them eventually against Hyderabad. Punjab lost the game by 33 runs to allow Hyderabad dethrone them. Following the loss, captain Shreyas Iyer blamed the catching. Iyer admitted that too many catches were dropped which allowed Hyderabad to get extra runs.

Not just catches, Prabhsimran Singh missed an easy stumping of Ishan Kishan as well. Former India cricketer R. Ashwin has now decoded why so many catches could have been grasped.

few games back Shashank Singh dropped few catches and as punishment Punjab dropped him from the playing X1.

Now today once again he dropped the catch,I am sure he will become the 1st player to be dropped from the team for the 2nd time for dropping catch.pic.twitter.com/XrrcT6vKl3
— Sujeet Suman (@sujeetsuman1991) May 6, 2026

‘Ball was bouncing unusually’

“I’m not making excuses, but something definitely looked off with Punjab Kings’ fielding this time. They dropped far too many catches. Even when Ricky Ponting was being interviewed during the match, he mentioned that poor fielding spreads like a virus through a team,” Ashwin said.

“One thing I noticed was Cooper Connolly’s dropped catch. Just before that, he had misfielded a boundary as well. From that, you could clearly understand that the ball was bouncing unusually near the boundary line. Even in the previous match at the Hyderabad stadium, the ball was kicking up sharply. This usually happens when the outfield becomes very hard and loses its softness,” he explained.

Setback For PBKS

The loss of such kind is bound to hurt the morale of the side. The Kings would realise they need to wipe out the memories of the night in Hyderabad and look ahead as they have been very good this season. The Kings take on the Capitals in their next game on May 11.