Team India set an unwanted record on Sunday after losing the toss against Pakistan in a Champions Trophy match. The Men in Blue have now lost 12 tosses in a row, starting from the finals of World Cup 2023, the longest sequence for a team in ODIs. According to Cricbuzz, during the match against Bangladesh, India had held the joint record for losing the most consecutive tosses in ODIs. They shared the top spot until then with the Netherlands, who had lost 11 tosses between March 2011 and August 2013.
Toss #TeamIndia have been put in to bowl first
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 23, 2025
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Streak of India losing tosses
It all started during the ICC World Cup final in India, where Rohit Sharma not only lost the toss but also failed to get his hands on the trophy. Later that year, India under KL Rahul's leadership,lost all three tosses in the away ODI series against South Africa. Rohit Sharma then lost three tosses in India's only ODI assignment in 2024, the away series against Sri Lanka. During the recent ODI series against England, Rohit once again lost all three tosses but India went on to win the series. The CT match against Bangladesh hence marked their 11th successive toss loss.
Pakistan to bat first against India in Dubai
Pakistan won an important toss at the Dubai International Stadium and opted to bat first. Mohammad Rizwan, the captain, announced one change, bringing in Imam-ul-Haq for the injured Fakhar Zaman. Team India, who won their opening game against Bangladesh, remain unchanged.
India playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav.
Pakistan playing XI: Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed.