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.

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.

Players	Total Dismissals
MS Dhoni	173
KD Karthik	162
RV Uthappa	128
AB de Villiers	125
SK Raina	118
KA Pollard	100
RG Sharma	96
PA Patel	96
V Kohli	93
RA Jadeja	89

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.

Player	Catches
KD Karthik	118
MS Dhoni	113
AB de Villiers	103
SK Raina	102
KA Pollard	90
RV Uthappa	87
RG Sharma	86
V Kohli	76
DJ Bravo	75
S Dhawan	73

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.

Player	Run outs
MS Dhoni	21
RA Jadeja	21
V Kohli	17
MK Pandey	16
SK Raina	16
AB de Villiers	14
KD Karthik	14
DJ Bravo	13
PA Patel	11
AT Rayudu	11

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.

Team	Total Catches	Catches per innings
CSK	731	4.11
MI	793	3.91
SRH	480	3.87
RPS	114	3.83
RCB	731	3.77
Deccan Chargers	282	3.76
RR	594	3.69
Dehli Capitals	701	3.63
KXIP	670	3.53
PW	157	3.41
KKR	632	3.29
GL	98	3.27
KTK	37	2.64

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.

Team	Total Run Outs	Run Outs per innings
KTK	12	0.86
Delhi Capitals	130	0.67
RPS	19	0.63
GL	18	0.60
RR	92	0.57
KKR	106	0.55
CSK	98	0.55
SRH	68	0.55
MI	108	0.53
RCB	101	0.52
Deccan Chargers	38	0.51
KXIP	92	0.48
PW	18	0.39

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.

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.

Year	Player	Fixture
2008	SR Tendulkar	MI v KKR
2010	DA Warner	Delhi Daredevils v RR
2011	JH Kallis	KKR v Deccan Chargers
2019	R Tewatia	MI v Delhi Capitals
2019	DA Miller	MI v KXIP
2019	F du Plessis	KKR v CSK