The plan was simple. Quit alcohol, get fit, take wickets, force a national recall. Yuzvenda Chahal did three of these four things this season flawlessly. The fourth is being sabotaged, catch after dropped catch, by the very teammates he gave up his evenings for.
SRH vs PBKS: MAIN | SCORECARD
There are no rules for what a cricketer owes his team. But when Yuzvendra Chahal gave up alcohol in the off-season, shed the extra kilos and arrived at IPL 2026 looking leaner, sharper and hungrier, a reasonable person might have expected something in return – perhaps a clean take on the boundary or a sharp chance that stuck to the slip. Instead, he’s down six catches this season. Throw in a missed stumps or two and the sensible one has long since left the building.
On Wednesday evening at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad it happened three times in five games: two catches and a stumble spilled over, each a fresh stab in the back of a man already denied a recall from the national arms despite being the IPL’s most successful bowler. If Chahal was tempted to reach for that bottle after all that, honestly, who could blame him?
It started so promisingly. Sunrisers Hyderabad plundered 79 in the powerplay, with Abhishek Sharma taking extra liberties against Arshdeep Singh and Marc Jansen – 35 off just 13 deliveries before being bowled out. The stage was set for a total of 220 plus. Captain Shreyas Iyer, sensing something on the pitch – perhaps a hint of grip – called Chahal in the first over after the over. It was a rare display of faith from a skipper who has not always given his leg-spinner the confidence his record demands this season.
It paid off immediately. An insane drop at 86.6 km/h by Travis Head – who struggled to free the rope every ball – was dismissed. Marco Jansen took a clean catch at long-on and tracked the ball that soared high into the Hyderabad night. Chahal struck in his very first over. The partnership was terminated.
That, unfortunately, was the last good thing that happened to him all evening.
ONE AFTER ANOTHER
Misery came in waves. In the very next over, with Ishan Kishan at 9, Cooper Connolly – usually a safe pair of hands, the man you’d return in narrow overs – shelled a catch at Lockie Ferguson’s end. It was the first postponement. It wouldn’t be the last.
Chahal’s own suffering deepened. Tied Heinrich Klaasen in knots with a delivery slanted in pace and on the stumps, the South African attempted a sweep and deflected it straight to Shashank Singh at deep backward square leg. It was a chance that a fielder catches in his sleep. Shashank put it down. It was, by some standards, the fifth catch he had dropped in his last three IPL appearances – a stunning outing for a player who had just returned from a spell on the sidelines nursing a niggle.
Chahal returned. Beats Ishan Kishan with a googly, the batter goes too far away from his body and doesn’t generate enough power to clear the mid-wicket boundary. A routine chance, the kind you see at this level ten times out of ten. Lockie Ferguson let it go.
At this point, the cameras found Ricky Ponting, Punjab’s head coach, in the middle of a conversation on the edge of the dugout. Ponting, one of the greatest fielders of his era, began the interview with a light acknowledgment of dropped catches. Then came the fourth chance in the space of five overs and Ponting’s spirits visibly soured. He told the broadcasters that he wanted to throw the microphone to the playground. It was half a joke. Only half.
The final blow came in Chahal’s final delivery. Beautifully flying leg-break, Ishan dancing down the track and overall beaten – only for Prabhsimran Singh to miss out on what should have been a routine upset. The dough had nowhere to go. The goalkeeper found a way not to send him there.
Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen, both settled for single-figure scores, collected their thoughts – and then collected their runs. 88-run partnership in 48 balls. Kishan finished with 55 off 32; Klaasen smashed 69 off 43. SunRisers Hyderabad posted 235 for 4. The total was a good 20 runs more than needed and everyone in the Punjab Kings dressing room knew exactly why.
SORRY FOR THE NUMBERS
- 6: Catches dropped by Chahal this season
- 5: Matches in which Chahal has played his full quota (10)
- 73.6: Catching Efficiency of Punjab Kings – Second lowest in IPL 2026
- 88:Start a drip partnership; Klaasen & Kishan in 48 balls
The contrast with what followed was painful. SunRisers held their nerve on the field. Eshan Malinga took a superb catch in the first over of Pat Cummins to remove the dangerous Priyansh Arya for 1. Cummins covered the yards himself to take a high spiraling catch off the bowling of Nitish Reddy to end Prabhsimran Singh’s stay for 3. And with Shreyas Iyer skiing under him, Cums immediately tried to run. Punjab were 23 for 3, their three most prolific batsmen gone before a partnership of any significance could take root.
Cooper Connolly plowed through the innings with remarkable composure – 107 not out, eight sixes, a knock that belonged to a winning cause. It wasn’t enough. Punjab lost by 33 runs.
Three consecutive defeats have moved Punjab from the top of the table to third place. They remain in the top four and the playoffs remain their task. But momentum is a fragile and fickle currency and right now the Punjab Kings are bleeding it on the field.
“If you keep dropping catches, a doubt creeps into your mind – am I catching correctly, am I too anxious? I think all our players are well equipped to handle the pressure. But we will come back, we will reflect and we will definitely come back,” Punjab Kings bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule said after the match.
Bahutula’s words were measured, but the subtext was clear: it had become a mental problem, not just a technical one. The team that produced arguably the catch of the season – Shreyas Iyer’s extraordinary relay effort against Mumbai Indians, all down to timing and instinct – has become a side that plays with directness and freezes under scrutiny.
And somewhere in it all is Yuzvendra Chahal, a man who has given up his vices to be the best version of himself this season. He did everything right. Tossed the googlies, found grip and beat the bat. He simply cannot find anyone to complete the work for him.
Playoffs beckon for Punjab Kings. But if they intend to go deep in this tournament, their fielders need to start understanding what Chahal is creating before his patience, like last year’s bar card, runs out completely.
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Published on:
May 7, 2026 07:46 IST
