India’s incredible streak of bad luck at the coin toss hit a bizarre new milestone in Raipur, where KL Rahul walked away visibly annoyed after losing India’s 20th consecutive ODI toss. South Africa captain Temba Bavuma called correctly yet again, leaving Rahul shaking his head in disbelief before walking back with a half-smile, half-grimace.
South Africa opted to bowl first—just as they did in Ranchi—keeping India on the back foot right at the start.
Rahul Admits He’s Been Practising the Toss
Even Ravi Shastri couldn’t resist bringing up India’s strange streak during the toss. When he asked Rahul whether the pressure was getting to him, the Indian captain gave a candid, slightly frustrated reply.
“I think the biggest pressure today was the toss. We haven’t won one in a long time, so I’ve genuinely been practising flipping the coin, but clearly it’s still not working,” Rahul said with a laugh.
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India’s last toss win dates back to 15 November 2023—during the ODI World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. Since then, India have lost every single ODI toss they’ve been part of, a statistical anomaly with a probability of 0.000000954%.
No wonder former Bengal cricketer Shreevats Goswami took a playful dig, saying India should simply stop showing up for the toss altogether.
“India should not come for toss, just let the opponent decide what they want to do. Why waste time,” Goswami joked on social media.
Despite Toss Woes, India Stick With Winning XI
India carried strong momentum from their thrilling win in Ranchi and decided to go unchanged for the Raipur clash. That meant another opportunity for Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been under the scanner for consistency.
South Africa, meanwhile, made three changes, bringing in Bavuma, Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi for Ryan Rickleton, Ottneil Baartman and Prenelan Subrayen.
IND vs SA 2nd ODI: Playing XIs
South Africa Playing XI:
Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Nandre Burger, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi.
India Playing XI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.
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Toss Streak Becomes a Talking Point Again
What started as a harmless bit of trivia has now turned into one of Indian cricket’s strangest ongoing storylines. Fans joked online about “toss curses,” “coin conspiracies,” and even “changing the coin supplier,” but Rahul and his team will hope their luck turns sooner rather than later—preferably before the next ODI.
For now, India will have to once again do things the hard way in Raipur.
