After losing 20 consecutive coin flips in one-day internationals at odds of more than a million to one, India is in complete disarray. The run of ill luck that dates back to the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, when Rohit Sharma was in command, has left stand-in captain KL Rahul perplexed.
After losing the flip again in the second one-day international against South Africa in Raipur on Wednesday, Rahul said, “I’ve been practising, but clearly it’s not working.”
Rahul hopes to put an end to this statistical aberration in the third and final South Africa ODI on Saturday in Visakhapatnam. The odds against losing 20 straight coin tosses are 1,048,576 to one.
“Honestly, that’s the most pressure I’ve had because we haven’t won a toss in a long time,” Rahul said after seeing opposite number Temba Bavuma call correctly, yet again.
Since the last right call against New Zealand on November 15, 2023, during the World Cup semi-final in Mumbai, three Indian captains have attempted and failed to win a toss: Rohit, regular ODI captain Shubman Gill, and Rahul.
“Rahul said that he’d been practising, but how do you know what the opposition captain is going to call?” batting great Sunil Gavaskar told broadcaster JioStar.
“Because you know, for the first game, it was Aiden Markram who was captain.
“So Markram might be a person who likes opting for ‘heads’, and Temba Bavuma might be a captain who likes to opt for ‘tails’.”
After a long losing streak, Faf du Plessis had reportedly once asked Bavuma to toss for him, according to former South African pacer Dale Steyn.
“It’s the first time I have ever seen a captain ask one of the other players to come and do a toss,” said Steyn.
“Temba also lost that toss.”
