When one looks at Team India’s triumphant T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, in a nutshell, it was a near-perfect one where we lost only one match to South Africa in Super 8 stage. Rest, we were clinical against all the opposition, including Pakistan and West Indies. The only blip in those victories was the England semi-final where they lost only by 7 runs.

Batting shone in patches; if one batter failed, the other one took over. IN bowling, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, and Varun Chakravarthy took care of the team. But then, one aspect that might get brushed under the carpet is fielding/catching. India were pathetic, poor, in fact, devastating.

End of the road for T Dilip?

So much so, that they went on to drop a massive 15 catches in the tournament, the most by any country. Their catching efficiency was the worst — at 72%. Even Pakistan were better placed at 83%. That says a lot about the catching standards of the team, and maybe the fielding coach T Dilip.

Who can forget the sitter Shivam Dube dropped of Finn Allen in the final vs NZ. The blip did not stop there as India went on to drop two more on the night. No one is doubting Dilip’s credentials, but something is going awfully wrong for sure. Maybe the methods are not working, or they just need to be changed.

India worst catching side

Team	Catching Efficiency
England	87.2%
Zimbabwe	85.4%
West Indies	84.6%
New Zealand	83.9%
Pakistan	83.3%
South Africa	81.1%
Sri Lanka	77.8%
India	72.7%

T Dilip has been around for close to 6 years, joined the team in Nov 2021, when Rahul Dravid was the coach, but the standards have not really improved. So, what is the solution? These players might taking 100s of catches in practice, but somehow it is not showing on-field during the matches.

The fielding coach got an extension last year in 2025, but one feels that should not be allowed again; the BCCI should/must take stock of the dropped-catch ratio. Again, the fielding coach can’t go on the field and chip in for the players, but a change is warranted.

There were reports last year, that is was some senior members of the side, that wanted him with the team. But now, this might be it, for the Hyderabad-based coach. Again, nothing against the coach/coaching methods, but the catching failures are for the fans to see. The ball is in the BCCI’s court, and we could know soon.

Just for the record, another big tournament where India’s fielding crumbled under pressure was the 2025 Asia Cup, where we dropped 9 catches alone in the Super 4 stage.