‘No excuses’ from Varun Chakaravarthy as India qualify for Asia Cup Final with ‘worst catching team’ tag
Need the best quality butter in the world? Well, all you need to do is ask Indian fielders where they get it from before taking the field. Against Bangladesh, the Men in Blue claimed 7 catches. The issue was that they dropped 5 catches.
India’s woeful catching against Bangladesh
Axar Patel missed a caught and bowled chance. Sanju Samson couldn’t get his hands on the ball despite having those big mitts. Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya made the classic mistake of not calling while taking a catch. Lastly, Abhishek Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav followed their poor fielding form from the Pakistan match. Five catches dropped, five different culprits, and at different positions in the field.
After the India vs Bangladesh match ended and the Men in Blue qualified for the 2025 Asia Cup Final, a stat popped up. It showed that Suryakumar Yadav’s side had dropped the most catches for any team in the entire tournament.
Only Hong Kong has a worse catching efficiency than India. Even Oman’s better than them. These are the teams that were unable to win a match in the Asia Cup. That’s where Team India finds themselves. Pakistan, a team often mocked for poor fielding, is miles ahead of India in that department.
Catching performance in Asia Cup 2025
| Team | Catches Dropped | Catching Efficiency |
|---|---|---|
| India | 12 | 67.5% |
| Hong Kong | 11 | 52.1% |
| Bangladesh | 8 | 74.1% |
| Sri Lanka | 6 | 68.4% |
| Afghanistan | 4 | 76.4% |
| Oman | 4 | 76.4% |
| Pakistan | 3 | 86.3% |
| UAE | 2 | 85.7% |
From most to least dropped catchesChakaravarthy reasons dropped catches
After the match, Varun Chakaravarthy accepted that Team India was ordinary in the field. The same happened in the last game against Pakistan, but India’s fielding coach T. Dilip didn’t go hard on the player. The spinner added that he’ll definitely have something to say this time around. Chakaravarthy also added that the lights at the Dubai stadium sometimes cause issues when it comes to catching, but that’s no excuse for all the drops.
“As they say, you can’t give excuses at this level. As a team, we have to definitely start catching all those (chances). We have qualified for the final, and we should be taking those catches. If you ask me, the ring of fire (floodlights on top of the stadium) comes in the eyesight sometimes and causes a little bit of disturbance. We have to acclimatise to it. We have to pick up our fielding, and the fielding coach will have lots to say. Last match, he didn’t say much. But after today, he’ll have lots to say,” Chakaravarthy said in the post-match press conference.
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