Watch | Preity Zinta, Arshdeep Singh in Disbelief as Shashank Singh Drops a Sitter off KL Rahul

Shashank Singh endured another difficult outing in the field as Punjab Kings faced Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday, with his repeated lapses drawing visible frustration from teammates and management.

Shashank dropped a straightforward catch of KL Rahul at the boundary and then failed to complete another fielding effort while running to his right.

On the second ball of the over, Rahul pulled a short delivery towards deep square leg, but Shashank failed to hold on.

The finisher, who had also struggled in the previous match against Lucknow Super Giants where he dropped three catches and let one ball sail over him at the boundary, continued his poor run in the field.

KL Rahul went on to score 152 of just 67 deliveries helping Delhi Capitals put a huge target of 265 for the Punjab Kings to chase.

Rahul became the only 3rd batter ever in IPL to score 150+ score after Chris Gayle (175*) and Brendon McCullum (158*).

Arshdeep Singh looked visibly disappointed, as did PBKS owner Preity Zinta. Soon after the dropped catch, Shashank spilled another chance at the boundary, allowing the ball to slip through his hands and race away for four.

Why Did Ricky Ponting Take Shashank Singh Off the Field?

Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting responded by taking him off the field following the two missed opportunities.

Despite the fielding concerns, PBKS batting all-rounder Cooper Connolly stressed the importance of maintaining consistency as the team looks to sustain its strong start in IPL 2026.

"It's always been positive. We just reinforce and reinforce, keep doing what we've been doing for the first sort of five or six games. We've been good," Connolly said.

"I think we just need to keep sticking to the basics and do the basics for longer. We know every team is very good in this competition, and any team can beat any team. So we're just looking to keep the basics tight, keep moving forward, and stick to what we know," he added in a pre-game chat with the broadcasters.

PBKS, led by Shreyas Iyer, currently sit at the top of the points table with 11 points, having registered five wins from six matches.

Reacting to the team’s fielding standards, head coach Ricky Ponting acknowledged the dip in performance while underlining the side’s expectations.

"That's probably very fair to say. We set ourselves to pretty high standards. Yeah, and we've been pretty good for most of the time. We were a little bit off in the back end of our last game as well, and we haven’t started that well today. So we know where we’re at now," Ponting said about the team's fielding on Saturday.