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As India’s bizarre 18-toss curse continued, Shubman Gill revealed even his family has started giving him tips to finally end the streak.
Shubman Gill (Photo: PTI)
Shubman Gill has revealed that even his family members are concerned about his horrible luck with tosses when captaining India in international men’s cricket, giving him various tips to turn the losing streak around.
Gill lost a third consecutive toss as ODI captain on Saturday (October 25) in the final match of the series against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). For India, it was the 18th straight wrong call, building on Gill’s predecessor, Rohit Sharma’s world record streak of 15, which began in the 2023 World Cup final.
“Mere ko ghar wale bhi bol rahe hai, kuch na kuch toss ke liye (Even my family members are giving me tips for the toss), Gill said at the post-match press conference after India secured a nine-wicket win to avoid a series whitewash.
| Team | Back-to-back tosses lost | From | To |
| India | 18* | 19 November 2023 | 25, October 2025 |
| Netherlands | 11 | 18 March 2011 | 27 August 2013 |
| England | 9 | 27 January 2023 | 13 September 2023 |
| USA | 9 | 29 May 2022 | 13 August 2022 |
| England | 9 | 22 January 2017 | 29 May 2017 |
| West Indies | 9 | 13 October 2011 | 16 March 2012 |
| Australia | 9 | 06 November 1998 | 24 January 1999 |
The odds of a toss going your way are always 50-50. But the probability of 18 tosses going against you is 1/262144 or approximately only 0.00038147% — a rarest of rare scenarios which might never happen again for decades.
‘Not worried about my performance’: Gill
Gill’s first series as the full-time ODI captain didn’t go too well. Apart from the 2-1 defeat, he only managed 43 runs in the three matches, with a best score of 24.
However, it didn’t even come close to denting his confidence.
“In the first match, I got out down the leg side. So, I’m not thinking too much about my batting. Sometimes, it happens. You obviously want to perform for the team in every match, but I’m not too worried about my performance,” the skipper said.
Gill was also all praise for Rohit Sharma (121*) and Virat Kohli (74*) whose 168-run stand lifted India to the big win in Sydney.
“They’ve been doing this for the past 15 years. To be able to watch them play like this and get the team through unbeaten is really a treat to watch,” Gill said, reiterating that “as a player, there were no doubts. As a captain, when you sit outside and watch the match, it feels really good that the two senior most players of the team are playing, and they’re getting the team through.”
October 26, 2025, 09:31 IST
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