Same curse! 38th captain, 8th toss lost: Rishabh Pant continues Team India's coin flip woes

NEW DELHI: India’s streak of unfavorable tosses continued as newly appointed Test captain Rishabh Pant lost the toss to South Africa’s Temba Bavuma at Guwahati’s Barsapara Stadium on Saturday, during the city's inaugural Test. South Africa opted to bat first on the red-soil pitch, expected to favor batters early before assisting spinners.


Pant made history as India’s 38th Test captain and the first wicketkeeper-batter to lead the team since MS Dhoni.

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India have now lost eight of their last nine tosses, highlighting their recent misfortune with the coin flip.

Shubman Gill, sidelined with a neck injury, had lost all five tosses during India’s series in England earlier this year. Despite this, Gill managed a 2-2 draw in his first series as Test captain.

His only successful toss came against the West Indies in Delhi in October. In Kolkata last week, he lost another crucial toss, and India failed to chase 124 on a tricky pitch with uneven bounce.

"We feel the wicket is good for batting. But at the same time, bowling first is not a bad option either," Pant said, downplaying the toss’s significance.

India made two changes to their lineup, bringing in Sai Sudharsan for Axar Patel and Nitish Kumar Reddy for Shubman Gill. The management chose to back Nitish, while Sai Sudharsan, previously left out in Kolkata, returns to bat at number three in place of Washington Sundar.


South Africa also made a change, replacing pace bowler Corbin Bosch with spin-bowling all-rounder Senuran Muthusamy, giving them three spinners in anticipation of the latter stages of the match.

Teams:

South Africa (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj

India (Playing XI): KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

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