The Toss That Took 21 Tries: India’s Longest ODI Jinx Finally Snapped

India finally ended their extraordinary ODI toss losing streak at 21 matches as KL Rahul won the toss against South Africa in Vizag, sparking celebrations and ending a statistical anomaly.

The Toss That Took 21 Tries India’s Longest ODI Jinx Finally Snapped (Image Source: Google)

Even before the start of India vs South Africa 3rd ODI at Vizag, India captain KL Rahul was seen to be very happy, laughing and punching the air in delight. The India team dug out was also elated. Occasion: India ended its toss losing spree after 21 attempts in ODIs. The last toss India had won was during the World Cup 2023 semi-final against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on November 15, 2023.

The question is not the impact the loss of toss in 20 ODIs had on the results for India, but the missing art of winning the toss, for India captains Rohit Sharma (12), KL Rahul (5) and Shubman Gill (3). India won 12 of the 20 ODIs during this streak alongside a tie.

On Vizag match, do you know:

*Former India player and now TV expert Murali Karthik had given Rahul some special tips related to the toss.

*For a change, Rahul did the coin flip with his left hand, and it worked.

*Rahul revealed that the team analyst Conor McGregor had also given him a few tricks for a toss favour.

So much strategy and planning just to win a toss? In fact, it has become a mystery as to why India captains are not winning the toss in ODIs? For the 20th straight time that India had lost the toss in ODIs at Raipur. Even at Raipur Rahul had played a special trick before the toss as he kissed the coin before flipping it but ended with disappointment.

The best man who could have helped India captains during this toss losing spree was EM Grace, brother of WG Grace. As per Eric Midwinter’s compilation, ‘WG Grace: His Life and Times’, EM Grace once won 38 out of 40 tosses in a season as he claimed that his eyesight was good enough to watch the coin at the top of the spin and accordingly he called.

‘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,’ Rahul said while talking to the presenter Ravi Shastri at Raipur. The broadcasters were ready with their stats and flashed that the chances of India losing 20 tosses in a row isn’t bad luck, it’s a statistical absurdity: 1 in 10,48,576. So that’s why, at Vizag, KL Rahul was seen to be very happy and satisfied, after winning the toss.

Now India’s toss loss spree has ended. The second-best ODI record in a toss losing streak is 11, in the name of Netherlands between March 2011 and August 2013. Netherlands won only three ODIs during this period including an abandoned game and a tie.

Incidentally now India holds the record for the most successive lost tosses not only in ODIs but in Tests also. India lost 10 tosses between December 2009 and October 2010. We are the ‘champions’ in all three formats together also as India recorded 15 successive lost tosses, between January and July 2025 which included losing all five tosses in the Tests in England this year.

Another oddity is that India lost 11 successive tosses in a row between November 2023 and January 2024 and this included losing all the seven tosses (2 T20Is+3 ODIs+2 Tests) on the tour of South Africa. The West Indies had lost 12 successive tosses across formats in 1999.

Rohit Sharma jointly holds the individual captaincy record in this respect as he lost 12 tosses between 19 November 2023 (World Cup final) and 9 March 2025 (Champions Trophy final). Brian Lara had also suffered bad luck with 12 tosses between 31 October 1998 and 21 May 1999.

The best India toss trick story is related to none other than Lala Amarnath. He lost 10 Test tosses in a row! This included all the five in Australia during India's 1947-48 tour. Before the last Test in Melbourne, a newspaper reported that, after the first four Tests, Lala Amarnath took a 'lucky' coin out to the middle, to practise tossing! Don Bradman, being the home captain, was supposed to flip the coin in the final fifth Test at Melbourne too but it might be possible that Lala had a toss-practising session, and in that held the coin, the same way, the Don did!