The fifth and final Test match between England and India got underway today at the Kennington Oval in London. England yet again won the toss and opted to bowl first as both teams made four changes to their playing XI. Ollie Pope is leading England in this encounter for the fifth time in his Test career, and even he won the toss for the first time. Meanwhile, Gill has joined Virat Kohli to become only the second captain in the 21st century to lose all tosses of a five-match Test series.
Kohli had lost the toss in all five Test matches during India's tour of England in 2018, the series which they lost 4-1. On the contrary, Team India are alive in the ongoing series, heading into the final game and have a chance to end it 2-2.
As far as international cricket is concerned, India have lost the toss for the 15th consecutive time, which is already a record, and it is just getting extended since the last couple of Test matches. The last time India won the toss was during the home T20I series against England in January 2025.
14th instance of a team losing all tosses in five-match series
Overall, this is the 14th instance of a team losing the toss in all five Test matches. The team winning the toss in all five Test matches have been able to win the series as many as nine times, while the series ended in a draw thrice. Interestingly, England is the only team in the history of Test cricket to win the five-match series despite losing the toss in all matches, and they did so back in 1953.
Playing XIs
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill(c), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel(w), Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope(c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue
