Sri Lankan team has dropped record catches in 2017

Sri Lanka has had a nightmare of a year in 2017 when it comes to cricket. From losing back to back matches to being plagued by injuries, the team members have been left scratching their heads, clueless of how to emerge from the abyss they’ve been thrown into. To add insult to injury, the Lankans have been guilty of putting down a lot of catches in the cricketing year of 2017, making their plight even more severe.

Of late, India‘s tour of Sri Lanka has been a rude wake-up call for the hosts, especially when it comes to their batting and fielding departments. An evergreen saying in the game of cricket goes: “Catches win matches”. Having dropped as many catches as they have, the island nation, most understandably, has lost about 70% of their matches.

26 players across all formats for Sri Lanka have dropped catches

According to the latest match figures, the Lankans have dropped as many as 65 catches so far, and in all 26 players across all three formats have dropped catches in 2017. One of their worse fielding performances was against Pakistan in the ICC Champions Trophy, where Thisara Perera and Seekkuge Prasanna were responsible for dropping 3 wickets off the bowling of Lasith Malinga, which saw Sri Lanka crash out of the tournament unceremoniously.

Dropped catches also led to some serious injury for the side in the 3-Test series against India. The first Test at Galle saw Asela Gunaratne fracture his thumb while attempting to take the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan, which he eventually missed. Even star fielders like Danushka Gunathilaka has committed slip-ups all throughout and all these missed opportunities have resulted in the team suffering a humiliating 3-0 whitewash in the Test series. Further, to add insult to injury Team India won the 5-match ODI series by a 5-0 margin.

Here’s the most number of catches Sri Lankan players have dropped:

Dinesh Chandimal: 5
Upul Tharanga: 5
Dilshan Munaveera: 4
Niroshan Dickwela: 4
Asela Gunaratne: 4
Lasith Malinga: 4
Danushka Gunathilika: 4