Even before the first ball was bowled in the fifth India versus England Test, India faced a setback. At The Oval, captain Shubman Gill lost his fifth consecutive toss against England, marking the nation’s 15th in a row.
Before this final Test, the odds of India losing 15 consecutive tosses were about 1 in 32,678. With Ben Stokes absent, Ollie Pope stepped in as captain, spun the coin, and Gill made his call. India then became the first team to hit this unlucky milestone.
Despite the change in captaincy, India’s luck with the coin remained poor. Gill took on the Test captaincy after Rohit Sharma left the position. Pope, on the other hand, won his first toss in five Tests as captain.
India’s recent losses include two T20Is, eight ODIs, and five Test matches. It is also the 14th time a team has lost all five tosses in a five-match Test series. The last time this happened in the 21st century was during India’s tour of England in 2018.
Former England captain Michael Atherton jokingly said to Shastri during commentary, You’re involved in these tosses, you’re responsible. You’ll be fired. Shastri noted that Gill didn’t even look up when the coin landed.
Gill told Ravi Shastri that he doesn’t mind losing the toss if they win the game. He mentioned he was unsure about what to do and that the team would try to score well in the first innings. He added that the team has made three changes as Jurel, Karun, and Prasidh replaced Pant, Shardul, and Bumrah. The team aims to win and will give their best.
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