India, Aug. 6 -- T Dilip's departure as India's fielding coach arrives at the end of a conspicuously successful period for the national team. Yet beneath the trophies, celebratory fielding medals and occasional acts of athletic brilliance lies a more disquieting statistical record.

Across three major, publicly documented samples from the closing phase of Dilip's tenure-the 2025 Test series in England, the 2025 Asia Cup and the first eight matches of the 2026 T20 World Cup-India completed 103 catches and dropped 48.

That amounts to 151 recorded opportunities and a combined catching efficiency of only 68.2%.

The datasets are not perfectly identical in their classification of chances. They therefore cannot be treated as a forensic evaluat...