It was a mini-victory and a good omen for India, and certainly for KL Rahul as he won the toss in the India vs South Africa 3rd ODI on Saturday in Visakhapatnam. The happiness, or the relief, could be seen on Rahul’s face as he chuckled after ending India’s unbelievable 20-match toss-losing streak in ODI cricket.
After two run-fest ODIs in Ranchi and Raipur, the IND vs SA series moved to Visakhapatnam for the series-deciding game on Saturday at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. The third ODI also promises to be a high-scoring encounter.
India, playing under interim skipper KL Rahul, won the first ODI by only 17 runs when defending 349. But the hosts failed to defend an even bigger total of 358 in the second ODI as dew made life difficult for the Indian bowlers and fielders.
Virat Kohli had cracked two centuries in two games in this series and could be on his way to a third consecutive ODI century: in Visakhapatnam, he averages a humongous 97.83 and has raised three centuries and two fifties in seven innings here.
Meanwhile, a lot of talk heading into the third IND vs SA ODI was around the toss and the dew factor, in particular over India’s wretched luck with the toss in ODI cricket over the past couple of years.
India had lost 20 consecutive tosses before the 3rd ODI in Visakhapatnam.
This poor run with the coin toss began in the 2023 World Cup final. During this period, India have been captained by three different men—Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and KL Rahul—and yet their toss fate remained unbelievably dire as all of them combined to lose 20 tosses in a row—the probability of which is about one in a million (0.00000095)—before Rahul finally ended this freakish streak in Visakhapatnam in the IND vs SA 3rd ODI.
Interestingly, it is believed that Rahul tried something new to change the luck with the toss: he flipped the coin in Vizag with his left hand!
When the match referee confirmed to Rahul that he had won the toss—Temba Bavuma called heads, and the coin landed with tails on the upside—Rahul did a little fist bump before smilingly acknowledging the presence of commentator Murali Kartik as the lucky toss presenter.
Watch: KL Rahul’s reaction as India finally win toss after losing 20 in a row in ODI
Funny Memes On KL Rahul As India Win Toss After 20 ODIs
As soon as Rahul won the toss, fans on social media erupted with funny tweets and memes. Check them out here.
Rahul elected to bowl first in Vizag. India made one change to their lineup: Washington Sundar replaced by Tilak Varma, which means India went into the match with only five proper bowling options.
Bavuma confirmed two injury-forced changes: Nandre Burger and Tony de Zorzi, both of whom sustained hamstring injuries in the 2nd ODI, were replaced by Ryan Rickelton and Ottneil Baartman.
IND vs SA 3rd ODI Playing XIs:
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma(c), Dewald Brevis, Quinton de Kock(w), Matthew Breetzke, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Lungi Ngidi, Keshav Maharaj, Ottneil Baartman
India: KL Rahul(w/c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna
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