Open Letter to the ICC and BCCI
To:
– Mr. Jay Shah, Chairman, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
– The Chairman and Governing Council, International Cricket Council (ICC)
From:
M. K. Sudarshan
A devoted lover and long-time follower of international cricket
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: mksudarshan2002@yahoo.co.in
Mobile: +91 9884287078
Date: 26 May 2026
Subject: A Proposal to Introduce “Net Catching Efficiency” as an Official Career Metric in International Cricket
Dear Sirs,
I write to you not as a critic, but as a passionate lover of cricket who has followed the game through decades of evolution—from the era of leather and willow to the present age of high-definition cameras, ball-tracking, and AI-driven analytics. Cricket has transformed dramatically, yet one glaring omission remains in how we assess a player’s career: fielding contribution, especially catching, is not meaningfully captured in official career records.
Today, when a player’s track record is displayed in international cricket:
- For a batsman, the metrics are aggregate runs, average, strike rate, and centuries.
- For a bowler, the metrics are total wickets, bowling average, economy, and five-wicket hauls.
- For a fielder, the only statistic almost ever shown is catches taken (Ct), and even that is often relegated to fine print.
Nowhere in standard career summaries do we find:
- How many catches a player has dropped over their career, and
- A clear, simple metric that reflects their net catching contribution to the game.
This is an outdated omission in a sport that now uses the most sophisticated technology in sports to capture even the minutest aspects of play.
The Problem: Catching Dropped Is Not Tracked
Catching is a critical component of modern cricket. A single dropped catch can change the outcome of a match, a series, or even a World Cup. Yet:
- Official career records do not record “catches dropped” for individual players.
- There is no official net metric for fielding, unlike runs or wickets.
- Public perception and player valuations are skewed toward batting and bowling, despite fielding being a core pillar of the game.
Some analytics groups and broadcasters (especially in the IPL) have begun tracking drops and computing catching efficiency at team and sometimes player level, but this is not yet part of official international career statistics.
The Technological Reality: We Can Do This Now
The claim that “we cannot track drops” is no longer valid. The technology and resources to do this already exist and are in active use:
- Fielding data is already tracked in ICC tournaments.
Since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, the ICC’s official data supplier Sportradar has been tracking live fielding data, recording 80 data points per ball, and enabling players to be judged on their fielding for the first time. - Advanced optical tracking is already supported by the BCCI and ICC.
Systems like the Quidich Tracker (QT), developed with support from both the BCCI and ICC, use optical tracking, computer vision, and AI cameras to generate over 5 million data points per match, including real-time player positions and movements on the field. - Catching efficiency is already computed at team level.
In recent tournaments, catching efficiency has been reported for national teams (e.g., India’s catching efficiency in T20 World Cups, team-wise efficiency in the Champions Trophy 2025 and IPL 2026).
If we can track:
- ball swing and seam movement,
- exact fielder positions,
- run-out distances, and
- boundary decisions,
then we can certainly detect:
- a catch taken, and
- a missed/dropped chance,
and record them per player in real time.
The barrier is not technology or resources; it is policy, definition, and commitment.
A Simple, Clear Metric: Net Catching Contribution
I propose that the ICC and BCCI jointly introduce an official career metric for fielding, built on two simple numbers:
- Ct = total catches taken in a player’s international career
- Cd = total catches dropped in a player’s international career
From these, two derived metrics can be computed:
- Net Catching Contribution
Net Catching = Ct – Cd - Catching Efficiency Percentage
Catching Efficiency % = Ct / (Ct + Cd) × 100
These metrics would appear alongside runs and wickets in player profiles, broadcast graphics, and official ICC/BCCI statistics pages.
Why this matters:
- Net Catching reflects the total value a fielder adds: a player who takes 100 catches and drops 20 has +80; one who takes 60 and drops 0 has +60. Both are valuable, but the first has shown more opportunity and risk.
- Catching Efficiency % reflects reliability per chance: whether a player is consistent or prone to high-profile misses.
- Together, they give a balanced picture: total contribution and consistency.
This is no more complex than batting average or bowling average, yet it addresses a major gap in how players are assessed.
Why the ICC and BCCI Should Act Now
- Resources are not a constraint
The ICC and BCCI already fund:
– Global data suppliers (Sportradar)
– Advanced tracking systems in major tournaments
– Broadcast technology, DRS, and analytics infrastructure
Adding a “drop” flag to the data model and computing derived metrics requires programming and data-annotation work, not new hardware. - Fielding is increasingly central to modern cricket
– Teams invest heavily in fielding coaches and training.
– Fielding breakdowns are often cited as match-defining moments.
– Yet players are rarely celebrated or judged on their fielding in the way they are for batting and bowling. - This would set a global standard
By making this official, the ICC and BCCI would:
– Lead global cricket in modernizing player assessment.
– Encourage other boards and leagues to adopt the same standard.
– Show that fielding is as important as bat and ball. - Fans and players deserve transparency
Modern fans are increasingly data-literate and expect comprehensive statistics. Players deserve to be judged fairly on all three dimensions of the game: batting, bowling, and fielding.
My Recommendation
I respectfully urge the ICC and BCCI to:
- Define a clear, consistent operational definition of a “drop” for data collection, agreed upon by both boards and data providers.
- Mandate that data providers record “catches dropped (Cd)” per player in all international matches under ICC and BCCI auspices.
- Introduce official career metrics for fielding, including:
– Catches (Ct)
– Dropped catches (Cd)
– Net Catching Contribution (Ct − Cd)
– Catching Efficiency % - Display these metrics prominently in:
– Official ICC and BCCI statistics pages
– Player profiles on broadcast graphics during international matches
– Tournament reports and annual awards considerations - Pilot this system in upcoming major tournaments (e.g., ICC events and IPL) and then adopt it as a permanent global standard for international cricket.
Closing
Cricket has always evolved: from red-ball dominance to the rise of limited-overs cricket, from scorecards on paper to digital scoreboards, from subjective umpiring to DRS and AI-assisted decisions. The next logical step is to evolve how we measure and value fielding.
As a lover of the game, I believe that introducing Net Catching Contribution and Catching Efficiency as official career metrics would:
- Honor the true all-round contribution of players,
- Raise the status of fielding in the game’s culture, and
- Demonstrate that cricket’s governing bodies are serious about using technology to make the game fairer, more transparent, and more complete.
I urge you to act on this proposal and lead cricket into this next phase of modernization.
Yours sincerely,
M. K. Sudarshan
A devoted lover of international cricket
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Email: mksudarshan2002@yahoo.co.in
Mobile: +91 9884287078