Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) dominant IPL 2026 campaign went off the track, and the biggest problem is their poor fielding. After winning six matches in a row, PBKS suffered three straight defeats, which are now threatening their dream of finishing in the top two on the IPL 2026 points table.
Their recent back-to-back setbacks pushed Punjab Kings down to the third position on the table with 13 points from 10 matches, including a washed-out match in Kolkata. However, the Shreyas Iyer-led PBKS still have four matches left to make it to the top two.
Poor fielding is becoming PBKS’ biggest problem in IPL 2026
As the tournament enters the crucial phase, Punjab Kings’ fielding blunders have now become a major talking point around the team. In their recent match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), PBKS suffered a crushing defeat of 33 runs, mainly because of the sloppy fielding.
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Cooper Connolly, Shashank Singh, and Lockie Ferguson dropped crucial catches, and it hurt them badly. Among all the players, Shashank has faced massive criticism because of his repeated fielding errors this season. The PBKS batter has already dropped 6 catches so far in IPL 2026.
Earlier in the season, Shashank dropped three catches in a single game against Lucknow Super Giants. Most of his mistakes proved too costly for the franchise. Even with all this criticism around Punjab Kings’ fielding, young batter Suryansh Shedge has backed his team.
It’s a temporary thing: Suryansh Shedge backs Punjab Kings despite criticism
Shedge wants Punjab Kings to stay calm and not overthink the mistakes, as he believes that the dropped catches are a temporary problem and can happen with any team during a long tournament like the IPL. He feels they need to regain confidence and continue playing positive cricket.
Suryansh Shedge was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times: “I think it’s not just us who are doing blunders. That can happen to any franchise, and that has happened in the past. So, I don’t think we should be paying attention to that because when we were winning games, we were grabbing all the chances. We were the same players, right? We were the same team. It tells you that it’s a temporary thing and we will get out of it.”
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PBKS increase catching practice after repeated fielding blunders in IPL 2026
Meanwhile, Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has also admitted that fielding has become a major concern for the side, and because of this, the coaching staff has now increased catching practice sessions over the last few days. He now hopes for a better show in the upcoming games.
Ponting said, “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 everywhere he goes. He’s sitting under a high ball.”
He added, “He 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.”