Shubman Gill has joined a rare and unlucky list in Indian cricket. During the fifth and final Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at The Oval, Gill lost his fifth toss in a row. This makes him the fourth Indian captain ever to lose all five tosses in a five-match Test series.
This is also part of a bigger problem — India has now lost 15 tosses in a row in international matches. Fans and players are surprised by this strange streak of bad luck. In the final Test, England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope won the toss again and chose to bowl under cloudy skies, continuing Gill’s toss troubles.
Losing all five tosses in a five-Test series has only happened 14 times in Test cricket history. Before Gill, three other Indian captains also experienced this unlucky streak:
- Lala Amarnath (1948-49 vs West Indies): India’s first Test captain after independence lost all five tosses to West Indies captain John Goddard. West Indies won the series 1-0.
- Kapil Dev (1982-83 vs West Indies): On a tough tour before winning the 1983 World Cup, Kapil lost all five tosses to Clive Lloyd. India couldn’t win a single Test, and West Indies won the series 2-0.
- Virat Kohli (2018 vs England): Kohli lost all five tosses on India’s 2018 tour of England. England, led by Joe Root, won the series 4-1.
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Now, with the current series standing at 2-1 in England’s favour, Gill is trying to avoid another negative record — losing the series after losing all tosses. If India wins the final Test at The Oval, they will become only the fourth team in history to avoid losing a five-Test series after losing all five tosses.
