India became the first One-Day side to lose 20 consecutive tosses, a sequence that statistical estimates place at less than one in one million.
Stand-in captain KL Rahul expressed surprise at the run of misfortune. According to the foreign media, India’s poor record at the toss continued on Wednesday when the team lost a 20th successive toss in the One-Day match against South Africa, a development that astonished supporters and analysts.
At the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, Rahul threw the coin with hope that the sequence would end. South Africa’s captain Temba Bavuma called ‘heads’, won the toss and chose to field, which extended India’s unwanted run.
Figures place the probability of 20 successive defeats at the toss at one in 1,048,576, a calculation that prompted fresh debate over India’s run of bad luck.
Rahul, with a smile, said after the toss: ‘To tell the truth, this was the most pressurised moment for me because we have not won a toss for a long time. I attempted to prepare for it, but it appears that the effort does not help.’
India’s sequence began in the 2023 World Cup final under Rohit Sharma and has continued under Rahul’s leadership.
