Watch: Shashank Singh drops simple catch of KL Rahul during DC vs PBKS clash in IPL 2026

Even though the Punjab Kings (PBKS) sit at the top of the points table in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, continuing their unbeaten campaign, they have a massive concern in the fielding department. In the previous game at Chandigarh against the Lucknow Super Giants, they dropped nearly seven catches. 

And Shashank Singh was the man to be questioned. He was not in shape or in balance to drop the catches. On many occasions, he couldn’t judge the speed of the ball while grabbing it in his hands. But a strong practice session between the match days was expected to overcome his problem. But it didn’t.

Shashank Singh drops KL Rahul’s easy catch in IPL 2026

It was the second ball of the third over from Arshdeep Singh. KL Rahul picked the short ball from outside the off stump and pulled it towards the deep square leg region, where Shashank was stationed to catch. He didn’t need to move at all to get the ball in his hands.

However, the fielder tried to reverse cup the ball as it burst through his fingers and went for a boundary. The replays showed that Shashank pushed his head into the right side of his shoulder while the ball came towards the left side of him. That unbalanced his body in holding the ball.

Watch the video here: 

Even the ground fielding was not up to the mark for the Punjab Kings as the diving fielder, Priyansh Arya, failed to stop the ball, which crossed the rope.

Rahul, who was dropped on 12 runs off seven balls, raced away to 44 runs off 20 balls with four boundaries and three sixes.

DC makes PBKS pay for poor fielding

Despite the dropped catch, Arshdeep didn’t need to wait much to celebrate his very first wicket of the match as he found the wicket of Pathum Nissanka. But since then, Rahul and Nitish Rana put up a strong fifty-run stand for the second wicket to offer them a strong platform with the bat.

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Axar Patel, the home captain, decided to bat first on a slow surface, which he expected to get slower in the second innings, creating trouble for the batters.

Brief Scores (at the time of writing): DC 102/1 (KL Rahul 56*, Arshdeep Singh 1/20) vs PBKS. 

Fans react to Shashank’s fielding in IPL 2026

Here is how the fans have reacted to the dropped catch of Shashank in the DC vs PBKS clash of the IPL 2026-