India's cricket team has achieved an unprecedented milestone in the sport's history, though not one they would have wished for.
The team has now lost 15 successive coin tosses in international matches, establishing a new world record.
This remarkable sequence reached its conclusion when captain Shubman Gill incorrectly predicted the outcome of the toss before the fifth Test match against England at The Oval.
No other international cricket team has previously experienced such an extended run of misfortune at the pre-match ritual.
India's cricket team has achieved an unprecedented milestone in the sport's history, though not one they would have wished for
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The streak has transformed from an unusual statistical anomaly into a genuine historical achievement, albeit an unwelcome one for the Indian squad.
The mathematical odds of experiencing such a run defy belief. The likelihood of failing to win fifteen coin tosses consecutively stands at a mere 0.003 per cent, placing this occurrence among cricket's most improbable statistical phenomena.
Such a prolonged run of misfortune at what should be a 50-50 proposition represents one of the most peculiar statistical outliers in cricket's extensive history.
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India have become the first team to lose 15 coin tosses in a row
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Gill, who assumed captaincy responsibilities prior to the current Test series, has demonstrated strong batting form whilst enduring remarkable misfortune with pre-match tosses.
The Indian men's team last succeeded in winning a toss during January's third T20 International in Rajkot.
That victory in Rajkot carries additional significance as it coincided with India's sole defeat in that particular series. Since that January success, the team has failed to win a single toss across all formats of international cricket.
Gill, meanwhile, has opened up on India head coach Gautam Gambhir after he clashed with a groundsman at The Oval during practice.
Gambhir was heard saying: “You stop it, you don’t tell us what we need to do.
“You don’t tell us what we need to do, OK? You don’t tell any of my squad what we need to do. You have no right to tell us. You are just a groundsman.
"You stay in your capacity. You are just a groundsman, nothing beyond.”
Yet Gill refused to criticise his coach for his antics.
He stated: “We have been here [in England] for almost two months and a coach has every right to have a look at the wicket.
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"I don’t understand why we couldn’t look at the pitch closer than three metres. It’s not something that has happened before.
"We’ve been playing cricket all around the world for many years and it’s never happened.
"That’s the job of the coach and the captain, so I don’t see why he didn’t allow us to do that.”