[WATCH] IND vs SA 2025: KL Rahul breaks India’s 20-match curse, celebrates after winning toss in Vizag; video goes viral

Standby ODI skipper KL Rahul let out a visible sigh of relief after managing to win a toss in the third ODI of the ongoing series against South Africa. The Men in Blue lost a whopping 20 tosses in ODIs coming into this contest at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam.

Temba Bavuma called ‘Tails’ as Rahul spun the coin. However, the coin landed on the other side. There was a comical conversation which followed between toss presenter Murali Karthik and Rahul, with the latter jokingly asking Karthik to be present more often for India’s tosses. Karthik added that he was the toss presenter the last time India won the toss in the red-ball format.

India, who batted first in both the first (Ranchi) and second ODI (Raipur), opted to field in the series-deciding encounter on Saturday, December 6. Rahul mentioned the likely presence of dew as the reason behind his decision. Meanwhile, the hosts announced one change in their XI while Temba Bavuma said that that his team made two changes to their squad.

Interestingly, India have not won a single toss in ODIs since the semi-final of the 2023 World Cup. Their unlucky streak kicked off from the summit clash of the mega event in Ahmedabad, which they lost to Australia after reaching there undefeated.

Speaking of the ongong series, India won the first match by 17 runs before South Africa fought back to win by four wickets and level the series. While the first contest in Ranchi narrowly went in the hands of India, South Africa did not miss out in Raipur as they hunted down a massive target of 359.

The ODI leg will be followed by five T20Is to wrap up the all-format assignment.