Indian T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadavand match referee Jeff Crowe shared a chuckle together after India lost their fifth consecutive toss on Friday, October
31. The second T20I of the five-match series is currently underway at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was also seen asking his teammates to worship the god to bring some luck.
The Men in Blue, who lost the ODI leg of the series by a 2-1 margin, lost all their tosses then. Even in the first T20I in Canberra, which ended as a no-result due to incessant rain, the hosts were successful in the coin landing in their favour.
Neither Shubman Gill nor Suryakumar have been able to find any luck on the ongoing white-ball tour. On the other hand, the toss ahead of the second T20I meant Mitchell Marsh has won 19 tosses in T20Is and has opted to field first in each of the 19 occurrences.
Coming to the rain-curtailed encounter in Canberra, Gill and Suryakumar remained unbeaten on 37(20) and 39 (24), respectively. The opening contest of the series was eventually abandoned after only 9.4 overs were bowled. India posted 97/1 before inclement weather took over. Abhishek Sharma (19 off 14) was the only batter to fall.
Suryakumar is coming off a successful T20I stint in terms of winning the 2025 Asia Cup, which was played in the UAE. Although he was not quite in the best of form with the bat, his astute leadership ensured India clinched the title without suffering any losses throughout the campaign. He will be aiming to do well with the bat in the current series Down Under.
With reference to the second match, Suryakumar announced that India will be going ahead with the same team. On the other hand, Marsh announced that Matthew Short will replace Josh Philippe in the team sheet for the evening. A moment of silence was observed for Australian teenage cricketer Ben Austin, who tragically passed away after being struck by a ball in the nets on Tuesday.
