The unbelievable record got even more stunning on Saturday (October 25) as Shubman Gill lost the India men’s ODI team’s 18th consecutive toss in the format. He called it wrong against Australia’s Mitchell Marsh at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for his third consecutive loss in the three-match series.
The odds of a toss going your way are always 1/2 or 50-50. But the chances of 18 tosses going against you are 1/262144 or approximately 0.00038147%. Before Gill took over India’s ODI captaincy, Rohit Sharma was on a 15 toss-losing streak that went on till the 2025 Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in the UAE.
It had become a forgettable world record even then, but now the distance between first and second is even bigger: the second-highest
case of such a streak is the Netherlands’ 11 from 2011 to 2013 under Peter Borren.
Most consecutive tosses lost for a team
| Team | Back-to-back tosses lost | From | To |
| India | 18* | 19 November 2023 | 25, October 2025 |
| Netherlands | 11 | 18 March 2011 | 27 August 2013 |
| England | 9 | 27 January 2023 | 13 September 2023 |
| USA | 9 | 29 May 2022 | 13 August 2022 |
| England | 9 | 22 January 2017 | 29 May 2017 |
| West Indies | 9 | 13 October 2011 | 16 March 2012 |
| Australia | 9 | 06 November 1998 | 24 January 1999 |
Rohit still holds the captain’s record, three ahead of Brian Lara’s unfortunate 12 toss-losing streak in 1998-1999.
Captains with the most consecutive toss losses
| Player | Back-to-back tosses lost | From | To |
| Rohit Sharma | 15 | 19 November 2023 | 9 March 2025 |
| Brian Lara | 12 | 31 October 1998 | 21 May 1999 |
| Peter Borren | 11 | 18 March 2011 | 27 August 2013 |
| Jos Buttler | 9 | 27 January 2023 | 13 September 2023 |
| Monank Patel | 9 | 29 May 2022 | 13 August 2022 |
| Eoin Morgan | 9 | 22 January 2017 | 29 May 2017 |
| Nasser Hussain | 9 | 24 October 2000 | 22 January 2002 |
Tosses are a crucial part of the sport because they let you keep things under control by choosing if you want to field or bat first, depending on the conditions. In Sydney, though, Gill didn’t seem to mind losing the toss and being asked to bowl either.
“We would have bowled first. We got what we wanted. We had just enough runs on the board (in the last match). You’ve got to take your chances. In the end, they played well.” he said.
India, having lost the series 2-0, made two changes to the team for the dead-rubber, dropping pacer Arshdeep Singh for Prasidh Krishna and bringing in attacking spinner Kuldeep Yadav for all-rounder Nitish Rana.
India playing 11: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill(c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
