India’s bizarre run of luck at the toss has now entered statistical absurdity. With South Africa captain Temba Bavuma choosing to bowl first in the second ODI at Raipur, India have now lost the toss in 20 consecutive ODIs — a streak that began with the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
A 1-in-1,048,576 possibility
The probability of losing 20 tosses in a row is:
1 in 1,048,576
or
0.00000095
To put that into perspective, India were more likely to witness:
– a batter scoring a double hundred in a T20I
– a bowler taking 10 wickets in an ODI
– a tied Super Over
…than losing 20 straight tosses.
Yet, here we are — and the streak continues.
Toss update: South Africa opt to bowl first
Bavuma, returning to the XI after missing the first match, called correctly once again.
Bavuma: “We are gonna have a bowl. As the night comes in, dew could make batting easier later.”
India, unsurprisingly, were asked to bat — again.
KL Rahul: “We haven’t won the toss for a long time. The wicket looks good. Same team for us.”
South Africa make three changes; India unchanged
South Africa strengthened both departments by bringing back their senior players:
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Temba Bavuma returns as captain
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Keshav Maharaj replaces Prenelan Subrayen
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Lungi Ngidi comes in for Ryan Rickelton
India retained the same XI that won the opening ODI by 17 runs in Ranchi.
Full Playing XIs
India (Playing XI):
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna
South Africa (Playing XI):
Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
Match Details – IND vs SA, 2nd ODI
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Venue: Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium, Raipur
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Date: December 3
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Toss: South Africa won the toss, elected to bowl
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Start Time: 1:30 PM IST
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Series: India lead 1–0
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Live Telecast: Star Sports Network
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Live Streaming: JioHotstar
