11 dropped catches in four matches: India's fielding woes threaten Women's T20 World Cup campaign

In the fifth over of Bangladesh’s innings in Manchester on Thursday, Nandani Sharma spilled a top edge from Juairiya Ferdous at short third. The television cameras immediately panned to India head coach Amol Muzumdar. The disbelief on his face said it all. How do you explain four dropped catches inside the first five overs of a Women’s T20 World Cup match?That, however, has been India’s recurring problem in England.

Through four matches, they have put down 11 catches, a worrying trend that threatens to derail their campaign. The lapses proved costly against South Africa, where Marizanne Kapp, dropped on 9, was reprieved twice more before making an unbeaten 81 and steering her side to win. With South Africa’s win over Netherlands, India’s semifinal hopes remain delicately poised.After India’s five-wicket win over Bangladesh, captain Harmanpreet Kaur admitted the missed opportunities were a concern. “We’ve worked on our fielding but we dropped catches.

They’re our best fielders but sometimes it happens. We just have to keep working and catch the balls. We’ve fumbled but hope to be at our best next game,” she said.Radha Yadav, regarded as one of India’s finest fielders despite enduring a difficult tournament under the high ball, acknowledged the errors after returning figures of 3/28. “Fielding is something we do with great enthusiasm. You will always see it in our sessions; we don’t leave a single catch there. It’s very rare, maybe in extremely tough cases,” she said. Radha admitted conditions vs Bangladesh made catching difficult, although she stopped using them as an excuse.