Shashank Singh continues to drop catches in IPL 2026. (PTI Photo)

Just hide Shashank: Punjab Kings take player off after continued fielding howlers

Punjab Kings took Shashank Singh off the field after the player continued to commit big errors in the field. After dropping 3 catches in the previous match, Shashank fumbled straightforward chances against Delhi as well.

25 Apr 2026, 11:19 by India Today Sports Desk · India Today

In Short

Punjab Kings are playing Delhi Capitals on Saturday, April 25
Punjab Kings' Shashank Singh had a horrible day in the field once again
Shashank was taken off the field after dropping a catch

Punjab Kings' Shashank Singh had a horror day out in the field once again. Playing against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Shashank dropped a simple catch of KL Rahul at the boundary and then spilled a fielding effort while running to his right. The finisher continued his poor show from the team's previous game, where he dropped three catches against Lucknow Super Giants and saw one ball sail over him at the boundary.

On Saturday, April 25, Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting had seen enough of Shashank after the two chances and took him off the field. Shashank's first mistake happened in the 3rd over of the match, when KL Rahul attempted to slog Arshdeep Singh through the leg side. Standing at mid-wicket, Shashank tried to grab the ball with the Australian reverse-cup technique and ended up spilling the catch.

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Soon after the dropped catch, Shashank spilled another chance at the boundary, which saw the ball go through his hands and end up at the fence for a boundary. The player was soon taken off the field and replaced by youngster Suryansh Shedge.

The broadcasters asked Punjab coach Ricky Ponting about the team's fielding standards, and he said that the team held itself to pretty high standards.

"That's probably very fair to say. We set ourselves to pretty high standards. Yeah, and we've been pretty good for most of the time. We were a little bit off in the back end of our last game as well, and we haven’t started that well today. So we know where we’re at now," Ponting said about the team's fielding on Saturday.

A series of memes followed from the Punjab fans, who could not help but laugh at what Shashank had continued to do on the field.

One of the social media users even joked that Punjab perhaps should hide Shashank from Ponting today.

"Oh Shashank, just hide from Ponting for a couple of days man...its just not ur day today in the field," one of the users said.

In the previous match, at their home ground in Mullanpur, Ponting was left furious with the team's repeated drops. The head coach did not give any reactions at the time, despite the team's huge win over the Rishabh Pant side.

However, the dropped catches today really hurt Punjab as KL Rahul raced to his fifty in just 26 balls. The poor fielding from the team also led to Nitish Rana racing to his fifty, which saw Delhi Capitals race to 142 runs in just 12 overs.

Punjab Kings came into this match against Delhi with an unbeaten record in the Indian Premier League 2026 season. Punjab have played 6 matches so far, winning 5 of them. One of their matches was washed out by rain at Eden Gardens.

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