India’s slip cordon – by the numbers

Two catches dropped in the slips within the first hour of the first Test of a series. Cricket has seemingly become better with bigger scores, and better fielding abilities. However, if there is one thing in cricket that hasn’t quite been as good as it was before, it is slip fielding.

In particular, India’s slip fielding over the past few years has dipped considerably, considering the standards set by Dravid, Sehwag and Tendulkar. In this piece, an attempt has been made to look at India’s slip catching in Tests over the past 5 years by the numbers – catches taken, catches dropped, and who amongst the players tried out in the slip cordon is the best - in addition to making an attempt at understanding the positions of the players in the cordon.

Also Read: Relay catching: Newest addition to the cricketing manual

Before getting into the numbers, a brief explanation about the simple methodology – all the Tests India played over the past five years were looked at. At the time of starting to accumulate data for this article, the first Test in this period was Test # 2027 in 2012 - against Australia in Australia in what was the second Test of the series.

Slip catches dropped by India – By the numbers

Over the period of the last five years, India played 46 Test matches – 22 at home and 24 away. Out of these 46 matches, it won 22, lost 13 and drew 11 (Source: ESPNCricinfo). The win-loss ratio isn’t good enough and there are a multitude of factors to account for when a team loses – the toss, the batting and the bowling performances of the teams, and equally important being the fielding.

Slip catching has been India’s bugbear once they started losing good slip fielders in the form of Sehwag and Dravid; in these 46 matches, the Indian slip cordon has caught 126 of them and dropped 64 of them (Sources: ESPNCrincinfo, Analysis). The numbers indicate that the cordon dropped a catch for every two catches they caught which, by itself, is quite a telling statistic.

The number of catches dropped in away Test matches is 35, as compared to 29 in home Tests – without a doubt, chances in away Tests are always more crucial. The charts also show that Indian slip fielders have spilt more catches off seamers than the spinners – 40, compared to 24 off the latter.

While there are more opportunities for catches off seamers – the areas covered by the slip cordon for a seamer as opposed to a spinner are larger hence producing more opportunities for a catch to be taken or dropped - the number of chances dropped off seamers is indeed slightly high. It is also interesting to note that the number of catches dropped increases after the retirements of Dravid, Sachin and Laxman, and the axing of Sehwag.

The chart below shows bowlers off whose bowling the catches have been dropped. Of all these bowlers, catches have been dropped off Shami’s bowling the maximum, accounting for 19% of all chances. Next is Ashwin, who has 17% - but the slips for the spin department represent no major threat now as will be illustrated later in the article. (Sources: ESPNCricinfo, Analysis)

Is it possible that Indians tend to drop catches later during the day when it seems too long? Maybe it could be a case of lapse in concentration – the ability to switch on and off has often been talked about to work perfectly for Dravid and other excellent slip fielders. A chart of when the slip fielders have dropped the catches indicates no correlation as to the assumption of the fielders dropping catches later in the day.

Dropped catches by innings

Dropping catches changes the momentum of a match sometimes, or a series, and can even change a player’s career. A few fans will always remember Jadeja dropping Cook in the third Test against England when India were 1-0 up in the series. That drop made a difference in that match, the series (which England went on to win 3-1) and Cook’s career when he had gone 11 innings without a fifty.

There are several other instances when catches have been dropped at crucial junctures. It would be difficult to exactly quantify how much each drop meant – we can probably look at the differences between how much the batsman had scored until then and his final score. It is possible to see when these catches have been dropped, how the match was poised then, and observe if India was ahead, level or behind in the series.

The following four tables show catches dropped in each innings of a Test match, along with the factors indicated above. The rows shaded in grey indicate, in my opinion, crucial points in a Test match when chances have gone begging. Keener and more astute observers of the games India played would be able to point to other match situations in this list which were crucial.

Notice that a few of the catches dropped in the first innings come within the first hour of play (assuming an average over rate of 12 per hour), underlining even more the number of chances early in the day and the importance of taking them.

First innings

Slip catches dropped in the first innings of a test match: 2012 - Nov 2016
Year	Test #	Against	Home/Away	Over of the day	Batsman	Fielder	Bowler	Score when dropped	Final score	Diff	Team score when dropped		Result	Series standing

2012	2nd	NZ	H	10	Guptill	Kohli	Zaheer Khan	17	53	36	23/1	365 a.o.	India won by 5 wickets	1-0
2013	1st	Australia	H	9	Warner	Sehwag	Ashwin	18	59	41	43/0	380 a.o.	India won by 8 wickets	0-0
				18	Siddle	Sehwag	Harbhajan	13	19	6	349/7	380 a.o.
2013	3rd	Australia	H	36	Warner	Kohli	Jadeja	50	71	21	103/0	408 a.o.	Ind won by 6 wickets	2-0
				58	Cowan	Kohli	Ojha	64	86	22	146/2	408 a.o.
2013	2nd	West Indies	H	18	Kieran Powell	Ashwin	Bhuvi	21	48	27	48/1	182 a.o.	Ind won by innings and 126 runs	1-0
				45	Narsingh Deonarine	Kohli	Ashwin	12	21	9	148/5	182 a.o.
				51	Denesh Ramdin	Vijay	Ashwin	1	12 n.o.	11	168/8	182 a.o.
2014	1st	New Zealand	A	2	Peter Fulton	Dhawan	Zaheer Khan	1	13	12	1 for 0	503 a.o.	New Zealand won by 40 runs	0-0
				29	Kane Williamson	Vijay	Shami	32	113	81	76/3	503 a.o.	New Zealand won by 40 runs	0-0
2014	3rd	England	A	12	Alastair Cook	Jadeja	Pankaj Singh	15	95	80	25/0	569/7 dec	England won by 266 runs	1-0
				61	Jos Buttler	Dhawan	Shami	23	85	62	471/5
2014	3rd	Australia	A	25	Watson	Dhawan	Shami	37	52	15	83/1	530 a.o.	Match drawn	0-2
2015	4th	Australia	A	8	Chris Rogers	KL Rahul	Shami	19	95	76	46/0	572 a.o.	Match drawn	0-2
				90	Watson	Ashwin	Yadav	61	81	20	344/2
				25	Shaun Marsh	Vijay	Ashwin	9	73	64	415/4
2015	1st	Sri Lanka	A	4	Kaushal Silva	Dhawan	Aaron	4	5	1	13/0	183 a.o.	Sri Lanka won by 63 runs	0-0
2016	2nd	West Indies	A	53	Shannon Gabriel	Rahane	Mishra	15	15	0	196/9	196 a.o.	Match drawn	1-0
2016	4th	West Indies	A	3	Kraigg Brathwaite	Kohli	Bhuvi	4	32 n.o.	28	6 for 0	62/2	Match drawn	2-0
2016	1st	England	H	1	Alastair Cook	Rahane	Shami	0	21	21	0/0	537 a.o.	Match drawn	0-0
				2	Alastair Cook	Kohli	Yadav	1	21	20	1 for 0		Match drawn
				6	Haseeb Hameed	Vijay	Yadav	13	31	18	24/0
2016	3rd	England	H	3	Alastair Cook	Jadeja	Shami	3	27	24	4 for 0	283 a.o.	India won by 8 wickets	1-0
				54	Jos Buttler	Karun Nair	Yadav	7	43	36	162/5

Test # - Denotes nth test in a series; H - Home, A - Away; Diff - difference between bastman's final score and score when dropped

Series standing to be read as tests won by India at that point in the series-tests won by opposition up until the test mentioned

Second innings

Slip catches dropped in the second innings of a test match: 2012 - Nov 2016
Year	Test #	Against	Home/Away	Over of the day	Batsman	Fielder	Bowler	Score when dropped	Final score	Diff	Team score when dropped		Match situation	Result	Series standing

2012	3rd	Australia	A	12	David Warner	Virat Kohli	Zaheer Khan	126	180	54	193/0	369 a.o.	L - 32 (Aus)	Aus won by innings and 37 runs	0-2
2012	1st	NZ	H	23	Williamson	Sehwag	Ashwin	13	32	19	62/4	159 a.o.	L - 376	Ind won by innings and 115 runs	0-0
2012	1st	England	H	49	Bresnan	Sehwag	Ashwin	6	19	13	122/7	191 a.o.	L - 399	Ind won by 9 wickets	0-0
2012	2nd	England	H	65	Cook	Sehwag	Harbhajan	85	122	37	176/2	413 a.o.	L - 151	England won by 10 wickets	1-0
2012	3rd	England	H	14	Cook	Pujara	Zaheer Khan	17	190	173	27/0	523 a.o.	L - 289	England won by 7 wickets	1-1
2013	1st	South Africa	A	17	Graeme Smith	Ashwin	Zaheer Khan	19	68	49	47/1	244 a.o.	L - 233	Match drawn	0-0
				64	Faf du Plessis	Vijay	Shami	17	20	3	207/6	244 a.o.	L - 73
2014	1st	England	A	9	James Anderson	Vijay	Shami	45	81	36	403/9	496 a.o.	L - 54	Match drawn	0-0
2014	2nd	England	A	10	Sam Robson	Rahane	Shami	8	17	9	18/0	319 a.o.	L - 278	India won by 95 runs	0-0
				40	Gary Balance	Dhawan	Stuart Binny	32	110	78	91/3	319 a.o.	L - 204
2014	4th	England	A	12	Jos Buttler	Kohli	Bhuvi	34	70	36	259/6	367 a.o.	L - 107 (Eng)	England won by innings and 54 runs	1-1
2014	5th	England	A	31	Alastair Cook	Vijay	Aaron	65	79	14	171/1	486 a.o.	L - 23 (Eng)	England won by innings and 244 runs	1-2
				36	Alastair Cook	Rahane	Ashwin	70	79	9	176/1	486 a.o.	L - 28 (Eng)
2015	1st	Bangladesh	A	11	Imrul Kayes	Dhawan	Yadav	10	72	62	43/1	256 a.o.	L - 419	Match drawn	0-0
2015	2nd	Sri Lanka	A	14	Sangakkara	Rahane	Ashwin	24	32	8	47/1	306 a.o.	L - 346	India won by 278 runs	0-1
2015	3rd	Sri Lanka	A	1	Tharanga	KL Rahul	Ishant Sharma	0	4	4	3 for 0	201 a.o.	L - 309	India won by 117 runs	1-1
				22	Kusal Perera	KL Rahul	Yadav	9	55	46	63/6	201 a.o.	L - 249
				48	Herath	KL Rahul	Yadav	42	49	7	170/8	201 a.o.	L - 142
2015	3rd	South Africa	H	18	Duminy	Kohli	Ashwin	13	35	22	35/6	79 a.o.	L - 180	India won by 124 runs	1-0
2016	3rd	West Indies	A	6	Leon Johnson	KL Rahul	Shami	4	23	19	12 for 0	225 a.o.	L - 341	India won by 237 runs	1-0
				53	Shane Dowrich	KL Rahul	Bhuvi	12	18	6	219/8	225 a.o.	L - 134
2016	3rd	New Zealand	H	4	Guptill	Rahane	Shami	21	72	51	30/0	299 a.o.	L - 527	India won by 321 runs	2-0

Test # - Denotes nth test in a series; H - Home, A - Away; Diff - difference between bastman's final score and score when dropped

Match situation - L - 319, for eg, denotes India leading by 319 runs unless when opposition is leading in which case it is denoted using parenthesis; L - 2 (SL) denotes opposition leading by 2 runs

Series standing to be read as tests won by India at that point in the series-tests won by opposition up until the test mentioned

Third innings

Slip catches dropped in the third innings of a test match: 2012 - Nov 2016
Year	Test #	Against	Home/Away	Over of the day	Batsman	Fielder	Bowler	Score when dropped	Final score	Diff	Team score when dropped		Match situation	Result	Series standing

2012	1st	NZ	H	33	Guptill	Kohli	Ojha	15	16	1	22/0	164 a.o.	L - 257	Ind won by innings and 115 runs	0-0
2012	4th	England	H	54	Pietersen	Sehwag	Jadeja	2	6	4	90/2	352/4	L - 94 (Eng)	Match drawn	1-2
				60	Bell	Sehwag	Piyush Chawla	75	116 n.o.	41	283/3	352/4	L - 287 (Eng)
2013	2nd	Australia	H	5	Warner	Kohli	Bhuvi	13	26	13	19/0	131 a.o.	L - 247	Ind won by innings and 135 runs	1-0
2013	3rd	Australia	H	26	Lyon	Kohli	Ojha	12	18	6	83/3	223 a.o.	L - 8	Ind won by 6 wickets	2-0
2014	1st	New Zealand	A	7	McCullum	Vijay	Zaheer Khan	1	1	0	13/3	105 a.o.	L - 314 (NZ)	New Zealand won by 40 runs	0-0
2014	2nd	New Zealand	A	23	McCullum	Dhawan	Zaheer Khan	157	302	145	327/5	680/8	L - 81 (NZ)	Match drawn	0-1
2014	3rd	England	A	41	Root	Rahane	Jadeja	52	56	4	201/3	205/4 dec	L - 440 (Eng)	England won by 266 runs	1-0
2014	1st	Australia	A	47	David Warner	Vijay	Shami	89	102	13	168/3	290/5 dec	L - 241 (Aus)	Australia won by 48 runs	0-0
2014	3rd	Australia	A	23	Chris Rogers	Dhawan	Ishant Sharma	33	57	24	90/1	318 a.o.	L - 155 (Aus)	Match drawn	0-2
2016	2nd	West Indies	A	50	Shane Dowrich	Rahane	Mishra	53	74	21	251/5	388/6	L - 53	Match drawn	1-0

Test # - Denotes nth test in a series; H - Home, A - Away; Diff - difference between bastman's final score and score when dropped

Series standing to be read as tests won by India at that point in the series-tests won by opposition up until the test mentioned

Fourth innings

Slip catches dropped in the fourth innings of a test match: 2012 - Nov 2016
Year	Test #	Against	Home/Away	Over of the day	Batsman	Fielder	Bowler	Score when dropped	Final score	Diff	Team score when dropped		Match situation	Result	Series standing

2014	2nd	Australia	A	14	Steven Smith	Kohli	Aaron	9	28	19	63/2		Target 128	Australia won by 4 wickets	0-1
2015	1st	South Africa	H	25	Stiaan van Zyl	Dhawan	Yadav	21	36	15	72/6	109	Target 218	India won by 108 runs	0-0
2015	3rd	South Africa	H	72	Rabada	Rahane	Ashwin	4	6	2	172/8	185 a.o.	Target 310	India won by 124 runs	1-0
2016	2nd	New Zealand	H	75	Matt Henry	Rahane	Jadeja	16	18	2	188/8	197	Target - 376	India won by 178 runs	1-0
2016	3rd	New Zealand	H	12	Guptill	Rahane	Jadeja	8	29	21	42/2	153 a.o.	Target - 475	India won by 321 runs	2-0
2016	2nd	England	H	4	Root	Kohli	Ashwin	9	25	16	91/2	158 a.o.	Target - 405	India won by 246 runs	0-0

Series standing to be read as tests won by India at that point in the series-tests won by opposition up until the test mentioned

Slip catches taken by India

It would be unfair if the number of catches taken in the slip cordon is neglected in the same period, seeing that there are a couple of players in the slip cordon who stand out. The stacked column in the following chart for home games in 2015 is exceptionally tall, in part due to the matches played on pitches which assist spin, and in part due to the emergence of Rahane as an able slip fielder to spin.

Ratio of slip catches taken to slip catches dropped

An even better indicator, though simplistic, would be the ratio of catches taken to catches dropped by the team over the period concerned. A higher ratio would, naturally, indicate a good showing in the cordon. The charts below show the comparison of this ratio – the ratio off pace bowling in 2014 is almost a factor of 2 – following the exit of a dependable slip cordon, the newer slip cordon struggled in their catching.

Playing away from home didn’t help too, with a lot of catching opportunities in England, New Zealand and Australia coming off pace bowling mainly.

The chart above shows why Rahane has been quite brilliant for a slip fielder to spin. He has taken 27 catches to spin and dropped just 8 of them. He has evolved to be a dependable first slip option to Ashwin and Jadeja. Fun fact: of the 28 catches taken by spin in 2015, Rahane claimed 19 of them – close to 70%.

Ratio of slip catches taken to slip catches dropped: By player

Another exercise would be to chart a ratio of catches taken to catches dropped for each player in this generation and understand why Rahane is so important in the slip cordon for India.

The average of the ratio for the current crop of players stands at 1.89. Considering the standard set of fielders in the slip cordon as was observed in the ongoing series against England, Vijay and Kohli are at 1.56 and 1.5 respectively.

Jadeja received a lot of flak for dropping Cook in the 2014 series and more recently in the first Test between India and England; his ratio is at 1.5 as well. Rahane’s ratio is 3.27 – way above his slip partners. It is also important to mention Rohit Sharma, who has featured in the slip cordon often; he has caught 9 in the cordon off seamers, and has dropped none.

Rotation of slip fielders in the cordon

Nasser Hussain, one of the best commentators in the game currently, made a pertinent point about developing a set of players to stand in the slip cordon and nurture them. While Rahane does stand at first slip for the spinners, he is often found in the gully region for the seamers.

To be fair, India has tried out quite a number of players in the slip cordon for the seamers and it appears as though it is trying to find the right combination. It must also be said luck has not favored them as well – players such as Dhawan, Rohit and KL Rahul have missed out games owing to injuries or inconsistency.

Also Read: How fielding in modern-day cricket has gone beyond the bounds of possibility

The fielders have been moved around a lot in the cordon – maybe an attempt at finding who fits where best. Vijay, Kohli and Jadeja were at 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd slips respectively in the first Test against England while Rahane was at gully. If either Rohit Sharma or Shikhar Dhawan make a return to the side, it is possible that the player will either be slotted in the first or third slip position.

Or it might prompt another upheaval of sorts in the slips with Dhawan back to his second slip spot, Vijay staying at first and Kohli moving to third. In any case, both Kohli and the team management must have realised a set of specialist fielders are necessary for the slip cordon, and that a good fielder in the outfield does not necessarily translate to a good slip fielder.

An attempt was made to understand fielders and their positions in the slips in the 5-year period. The shaded cells show where the dropped catches occurred with the corresponding player name in the cell. There were a few instances where players were shifted from one slip to another within the same game as well as instances where players in the shaded cell went on to take a catch or two in the same innings.

The following diagram is left open to interpretation – it was mainly done to see which primary slip fielder moved where. In my view, Kohli, Vijay, Dhawan, Rohit and Rahane are the go-to slip fielders available currently. With five players (based on availability) and four positions in the cordon, it is possible to find the best combination and slot them in their respective places.

Rahane might have to move into slips if the team is unable to find someone suitable for those positions – going by his record in the slips for the spinners, it might be a solid gamble to go with him.

Also Read: Deciphering the fielding positions in Cricket: Backward Point

He was tried in the second slip position to pace bowlers in 2014 but it must be remembered that he was still evolving as a slip fielder then. 2015 was a revelation of sorts for him – not to forget the world record of 8 catches in an innings. It is also possible to counter this argument by insisting that Rahane is a slip fielder for the spinners alone and might not be suited for standing up to pacers – someone with technical expertise can probably explain why, if it is a valid argument.

The usage of fielders for spin is much more straightforward. Until his axing, Sehwag held fort at first slip; Vijay and Kohli were both identified and tried at first slip but the team finally hit gold with Rahane. He has good reflexes and seems to have the right temperament to stand in the slips.

For now, the slip cordon seems to be set on Vijay and Kohli. An inclusion of another regular at slip such as Dhawan or Rohit would make things interesting. The 4-Test series against Australia might throw up some interesting scenarios for India to consider and decide who goes where in the slip cordon if Dhawan and Rohit return to the squad. Indian fans will have to hope that the cordon starts catching more and dropping less in future Tests.

Note: All the stats and analyses considered in this article are up to the third Test between India and England which concluded on November 29, 2016.

Stats courtesy of ESPNcricinfo

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