Best fielding in the IPL

Catches win matches so the saying goes! Here we consider some of the best fielding in the IPL and the players with the best records in the field.

Some of the best fielding in the IPL final as Jayadev Unadkat takes a wonderful caught and bowled source

Let’s begin with some of the all time fielding records then.

Our first table shows most dismissals in the history of the IPL including catches, stumpings and run outs. Unsurprisingly this measure of the best fielding in the IPL is dominated by wicket keepers or at least players who have spent some of their career keeping.

PlayersTotal Dismissals
MS Dhoni 173
KD Karthik162
RV Uthappa128
AB de Villiers125
SK Raina118
KA Pollard100
RG Sharma96
PA Patel96
V Kohli93
RA Jadeja89
Most dismissals in the history of the IPL including catches, stumpings and run outs.

If we turn our attention solely to the player with the most catches in the IPL we get the following for best fielding in the IPL.

PlayerCatches
KD Karthik118
MS Dhoni113
AB de Villiers103
SK Raina102
KA Pollard90
RV Uthappa87
RG Sharma86
V Kohli76
DJ Bravo75
S Dhawan73
Most catches in the IPL

Moving onto the most run outs in the IPL, MS Dhoni once again sits at the top of the list of best fielding in the IPL in this category. His ability to throw off a glove, collect the ball and hit the stumps as batsmen try and scamper a quick bye is legendary and he is joined by several other CSK stalwarts on this list suggesting that their success as a franchise is based as much as anything on them being the best fielding side in the IPL.

PlayerRun outs
MS Dhoni21
RA Jadeja21
V Kohli17
MK Pandey16
SK Raina16
AB de Villiers14
KD Karthik14
DJ Bravo13
PA Patel11
AT Rayudu11
Most run outs in the IPL

Lets try and quantify that last remark about the best fielding team in IPL then and consider some of the fielding stats by team. Here we look at the team with the most catches in the IPL. To account for the fact that at various times and for various reasons some franchises haven’t been involved the table is sorted by the most catches in the IPL per innings by each team.

It doesn’t come as any great surprise that the teams who have been the most successful in the history of the IPL are also the teams who are the best in the field, generating and taking more catches.

TeamTotal CatchesCatches per innings
CSK7314.11
MI7933.91
SRH4803.87
RPS1143.83
RCB7313.77
Deccan Chargers2823.76
RR5943.69
Dehli Capitals7013.63
KXIP6703.53
PW1573.41
KKR6323.29
GL983.27
KTK372.64
Best fielding in the IPL – most catches by a team

Interestingly when we look at which is the best fielding team in the IPL based on the most run outs the table is almost reversed. This begs the questions as to whether more run outs necessarily indicates better fielding in the IPL or just a greater reliance on that particular dismissal at the expense of the more common catch.

The exception to this rule is probably KXIP who have a miserable record in both catching and run outs and can probably lay claim to the unenviable title of the worst fielding side in the IPL a fact that goes a long way to explaining their lack of playoff appearances in the last 6 seasons.

TeamTotal Run OutsRun Outs per innings
KTK120.86
Delhi Capitals1300.67
RPS190.63
GL180.60
RR920.57
KKR1060.55
CSK980.55
SRH680.55
MI1080.53
RCB1010.52
Deccan Chargers380.51
KXIP920.48
PW180.39
Best fielding in the IPL – most run outs by a team

There have been 2 examples of some of the best fielding in the IPL by teams who managed to take all 10 wickets out caught in an innings. Coincidentally the 2 matches came just a few weeks apart in the 2017 season although the match situation in both games was very similar with the side chasing having to go hard in pursuit of 200+ and offering up plenty of catches in the process.

You can watch highlights below of the best fielding in the IPL – 10 catches in an innings

RPS v Delhi Daredevils

Delhi Daredevils v MI

The most run outs in an innings in the IPL is 5 in a game between Mumbai Indians and KXIP including an incredible 3 run outs in the final over as Mumbai just fell short in an eventful run chase with Yuvraj Singh finishing the match with a superman style dive worthy of a record to be included in the best fielding in the IPL.

Yuvraj Singh’s run out is reminiscent of that of Jonty Rhodes in the 1992 World Cup

Watch highlights from 2008 here

As for individual efforts, the below list of players can all lay claim to the best fielding in the IPL in a single innings by claiming 4 catches a piece.

YearPlayerFixture
2008SR TendulkarMI v KKR
2010DA WarnerDelhi Daredevils v RR
2011JH KallisKKR v Deccan Chargers
2019R TewatiaMI v Delhi Capitals
2019DA MillerMI v KXIP
2019F du PlessisKKR v CSK
Most catches in an innings in the IPL