ENG vs IND 2025: When was the last time an Indian men's captain won a toss in international cricket?

India Test captain Shubman Gill once again lost the toss, this time in the fifth and final Test of the ongoing series against England at The Oval on Thursday, July 31. This was India's 15th consecutive toss loss in men’s internationals across all three formats. The last time they won a toss was in a T20I against England at Rajkot in January 2025.

India won the toss on that occasion and opted to field first. England made 171/9 in 20 overs, with Ben Duckett top-scoring with 51 off 28 balls and Liam Livingstone making 43 off 24 balls.

In reply, India could only reach 145/9 after 20 overs, losing by 26 runs. Jamie Overton was the pick of the bowlers for the tourists, claiming 3/23 in four overs. Hardik Pandya top-scored for India with a 35-ball 40, but his performance went in vain.

England opt to bowl at The Oval as both sides make a host of changes for series finale

England’s stand-in captain Ollie Pope won the toss and elected to field first under overcast skies and on a green surface at The Oval. He said that the decision was a no-brainer, based on the conditions on offer at the venue on the opening day.

“We'll bowl. Bit overcast, no-brainer to have a bowl on this pitch. Lost the captain but the others are tracking nicely, we've got a few fresh faces as well. We bat deep, Gus Atkinson and Overton have got runs. We're not going to contend with 2:2, we want to go out there and win it,” Pope said on Thursday (via Cricbuzz).

Shubman Gill said that he was not sure of what to do had he won the toss. He added that he would take the bargain of winning the match for losing the toss, if offered.

"Don't mind losing the toss as long as we win the game. Was a bit confused yesterday about what to do, was a bit overcast but the wicket looks good, we'll look to post good runs in the first innings. Should be a good pitch for the bowlers. We've got three changes. Jurel, Karun and Prasidh in for Pant, Shardul and Bumrah. We look for a win every game we play, we've come close and it's about that 5-10% extra push, boys will be giving it their all," Gill said at the toss (via Cricbuzz).

The last time an Indian captain lost all five tosses in a series was in 2018, on the tour of England, when Virat Kohli was the captain.

As far as The Oval is concerned, India won their last Test match at the venue in 2021 by 157 runs. Their only other win there came in 1971.

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Edited by Sankalp Srivastava