India’s luck refused to turn at the toss on Wednesday at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, suffering their 20th consecutive toss defeat in ODIs. South Africa captain Temba Bavuma called correctly after stand-in skipper KL Rahul flipped the coin. The streak left Rahul at a loss for words and even commentator Sunil Gavaskar stunned.
Having lost 19 consecutive toss in ODI cricket, Rahul called for some luck on Wednesday as he kissed the coin before flipping it. Bavuma called heads. Rahul leaned in to check after the coin landed on the ground, but met with disappointment.
"Honestly, that's the most pressure I've had because we haven't won a toss in a long time. I've been practising, but clearly it's not working," he said after presenter Ravi Shastri asked him about losing another toss.
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This was the 20th straight time that India lost the toss in ODI cricket. The last time India won the toss was against New Zealand in the 2023 ODI World Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After Rahul's remark, the broadcasters flashed a nightmarish statistic for India. It showed that the chances of India losing 20 tosses in a row isn’t bad luck anymore — it’s a statistical absurdity. The odds? 1 in 10,48,576. That number left Gavaskar stunned.
{{/usCountry}}After Rahul's remark, the broadcasters flashed a nightmarish statistic for India. It showed that the chances of India losing 20 tosses in a row isn’t bad luck anymore — it’s a statistical absurdity. The odds? 1 in 10,48,576. That number left Gavaskar stunned.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to JioStar, he said: "Rahul also explained that. He said that he'd been practicing. But how do you know what the opposition captain is going to call? Because, you know, for the first game, it was Aiden Markram who was a captain. So Markram might be a person who likes opting for 'heads', and Temba Bavuma might be a captain who like to opt for 'tails'. So how do you, how do you even try, even if you want to manipulate?
India made no changes to their playing XI, having won with the same combination in the series opener in Ranchi last Sunday. South Africa, who opted to bowl first, made three changes - Bavuma, Keshav Maharaja and Lungi Ngidi returned to the line-up.