15 tosses, 0.00305% chance: India extends absurd world record as Shubman Gill's bad luck continues

On Thursday, July 31, India accomplished a nearly impossible task during the first day of the fifth Test match in the 2025 Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy at the Oval, as Shubman Gill once again lost the toss, with Ollie Pope opting to bowl first. This marks the fifth consecutive toss that Gill has lost in his debut Test series as the Indian Test captain, with luck not favoring him in the first four matches, which went in Ben Stokes' favor. With Stokes sidelined due to injury, Pope is captaining the home team in this final match of the series.

India defies expectations

Not only is this the fifth consecutive Test in which India has lost the toss, but it also marks the 15th international match where they have not had the opportunity to make the call. This unfortunate streak began with Suryakumar Yadav, who lost the toss in the last two T20Is of the five-match home series against England earlier this year.

Subsequently, Rohit Sharma lost the toss in all three ODIs against England and in all five tosses during the 2025 Champions Trophy. Interestingly, India emerged victorious in each of these matches, winning the T20I series against England 4-1 and the ODIs 3-0, before claiming the Champions Trophy without a loss.

In the current Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, India has shown resilience under Gill's leadership, despite losing all four tosses, and they are only trailing 2-1 as they head into the final Test.

India has now become the first team to lose 15 international tosses consecutively, further extending their record for the most toss losses in a row.

Remarkably, the probability of a team losing 15 tosses in succession is one in 32,768, equating to just 0.00305%. Additionally, India is currently experiencing a streak of 15 consecutive toss losses in ODI cricket, a run that began on November 19, 2023.

This incident also marks only the 14th occurrence of a team losing all five tosses in a five-match Test series, and it is only the second such instance in the 21st century. The last time this happened post-2000 was also India, during their tour of England in 2018, when Virat Kohli was at the helm.

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