India luck with the toss in ODIs reached at astonishing and unprecedented low as the Men in Blue lost their 20th consecutive loss during the second game against South Africa in Raipur on Wednesday. A composed cricketer by nature, KL Rahul couldn't hold his emotions, as the wicketkeeper-batter reacted in utter disbelief after Temba Bavuma won the toss.
The priceless moment was caught by the camera with his wry smile on his face with only probably one question in his mind, “How is this even possible?” Rahul is the stand-in-captain of the Indian team in the ongoing ODI series after regular skipper Shubman Gill wad ruled out due to injury.
More pressure to win the toss: KL Rahul
It all started two years back during the World Cup at home. Since then, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and Rahul, all have fallen prey to this toss curse. If statistics are to be believed, the trobability of losing 20 consecutive tosses is 1 in 1,048,576 ie. 0.00000095.
Speaking to former cricketer and toss presenter Ravi Shastri, Rahul admitted that he had more pressure to win the toss. “Honestly, that's the most pressure I've had because we haven't won a toss in a long time. I've been practising, but clearly it's not working,” Rahul told Shastri.
Meanwhile, Rahul didn't tinker with the playing XI that won them the first game by 17 runs in Ranchi. On the other hand, South Africa made three changes with captain Bavuma returning to the side after being rested in Ranchi. Besides Bavuma; Keshav Maharaj and Lungi Ngidi are also in.
The trio of Ryan Rickelton, Prenelan Subrayen and Ottniel Baartman have missed out.
India vs South Africa 2nd ODI playing XIs
South Africa: Quinton de Kock(w), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma(c), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna