Stats - India finally end their rotten luck with the toss

KL Rahul chuckled before tossing the coin up in the air in the third ODI against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. When the coin landed in his favor, he gave a little fist bump before stating that India will bowl first.

The chuckle and the fist bump captured India's wretched luck with the toss. They had lost 20 tosses in a row in ODIs before this game - a statistical oddity with a mathematical probability of 1 in 1,048,576 instances.

The last time India won the toss in ODIs was in the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. It was 753 days ago (more than two years). Hardik Pandya was still with Gujarat Titans in the IPL at the time, Gautam Gambhir wasn't anywhere near India's coaching staff and India still hadn't lost a Test series at home for over a decade. Now, eight Indian players have made their ODI debut since India last won a toss in this format.

Netherlands held this unfortunate record previously. They lost 11 consecutive tosses in ODIs between March 2011 and August 2013. India were close to doubling it.

Netherlands won only three ODIs during this phase, including an abandoned game and a tie. India, on the other hand, won 12 of the 20 ODIs during their dreaded streak (win percentage of 60%) alongside a tie. It includes winning the 2025 Champions Trophy undefeated despite the toss going against them every single time.

India's success rate with the toss was abysmal across formats. Since the 2023 World Cup final which started this streak, India had won the toss only 33 times in 96 completed matches.

They lost 11 tosses in a row between November 2023 and January 2024. It included seven matches (two T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests) across their full tour of South Africa. Between January 31, 2025 and July 31, 2025, India went a few steps ahead, losing 15 tosses in a row, which included the England tour where they lost the toss in all five Tests.

The previous record belonged to West Indies, when they lost 12 consecutive tosses across formats in 1999.

In the two years prior to that (from Nov 15, 2021 until Nov 15, 2023, the semi-final against New Zealand), India won more than 50% of the tosses.

India have had six captains in during period. Rahul, who broke India's streak had the lowest win percentage with the toss (16.67%). Among the full-time captains, each of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav won the toss less than 40% of times. Jasprit Bumrah is the anomaly here, winning the toss in both matches he played at captain (the two Tests in Australia). Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant lost the toss in the only match where he captained the side - the Guwahati Test against South Africa.

Among Full-Member nations, India's percentage of winning the toss is the lowest since the 2023 World Cup final - 34.38%. However, defying the outcome of the toss, India are still at the top of the table in terms of win percentage during this period - 65.63%.

Not only that, India have won 64.91% of their matches when they have lost the toss, again the highest for a Full-Member nation, with only New Zealand and Australia coming close.

India have risen above the toss factor to consistently outperform conditions and opponents alike. However, New Zealand and South Africa were among the few sides who managed to exploit India's streak, turning toss advantage into historic series wins in India. New Zealand made India chase on turning pitches in Pune and Mumbai, while South Africa repeated the tactic in Kolkata and Guwahati. India lost all four matches. The Guwahati Test resulted in India's heaviest Test defeat at home by runs (408).