Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting described his team’s poor fielding as a "virus" after they dropped three crucial catches in a 33-run loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday (May 6).
Notably, Cooper Connolly, Shashank Singh and Lockie Ferguson’s fielding blunders proved costly, allowing Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen to dominate with the bat.
When Kishan was batting on 9, Connolly dropped a dolly in the deep. The incident occurred on the first delivery of the 8th over bowled by Lockie Ferguson, who himself spilled an easy catch at deep backward square-leg three overs later to give another reprieve to the southpaw playing on 18.
Kishan went on to score 55 off 32 balls with two fours and four sixes before being dismissed by Arshdeep Singh in the 15th over.
Shashank, who was already under severe scrutiny for his fielding lapses earlier in the season, made another big error as he dropped Klaasen’s easy catch at deep backward square-leg in the 9th over.
Klaasen was batting on 23 at the time and he went on to smash 69 off 43 balls, including three fours and four sixes. He got out on the final delivery of the innings, propelling SRH to a massive 235/4 in 20 overs.
“Look, it’s been a bit of a virus for us, to be honest. We’ve put a lot of catches down so far this season. The boys have worked exceptionally hard and poor old Shashank there; it just looks like the chances are following him around everywhere he goes. He’s sitting under every high ball," Ponting said while speaking to the broadcasters during the 10th over of the SRH innings.
“He (Shashank) missed a couple of games with a left hamstring, so it’s taken him about a week and a half to come back from that. He’s done all his work over the last week to be physically right to play, and we have really ramped up the catching drills over the last five or six days," he added.
During his conversation with the commentators, Ponting jokingly threatened to throw his microphone after Ferguson dropped a straightforward catch of Kishan in the 11th over.
“I think I should go, this isn’t going very well. I am being close to throwing the microphone in the middle of the field," Ponting quipped.
During the chase, PBKS got off to a terrible start, losing three wickets for just 23 runs inside the powerplay. While Cooper Connolly smashed an unbeaten century (107* off 59), he lacked support from the other end as the visitors were eventually restricted to 202/7.
Punjab Kings had a dominant initial phase (6 wins in 7 games) before falling into a slump, with this loss being their third in a row, causing them to lose the top spot on the points table.
