NEW DELHI: India's luck at the toss has hit an unprecedented low in ODIs, as the Men in Blue have now lost the toss in 19 consecutive matches. The streak dates back to the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, where India had also lost the toss.

To put this into perspective, the next longest toss-losing streak in ODI history belongs to the Netherlands, who lost 11 consecutive tosses between March 2011 and August 2013.

Leading the side in the absence of Shubman Gill, who is ruled out of the series due to a neck injury, KL Rahul said the team's preparation has been good and expressed his happiness over the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.

"We would have bowled first as well. The preparation has been good, the energy is there with a lot of players coming back, we want to enjoy ourselves in the middle. That's what the chat has been, we need to use every opportunity we get in the ODI team, this is a great chance to challenge our skills against a very good team," Rahul said after losing the toss.

South Africa have rested skipper Temba Bavuma and spinner Keshav Maharaj, with Aiden Markram handed the responsibility of leading the side.

For India, who are without regular skipper Gill, Rohit Sharma opened with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The hosts have gone with three spinners and as many pacers.

Teams:

India: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Washington Sundar, KL Rahul (c&wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna.

South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram (c), Matthew Breetzke, Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Prenelan Subrayen, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman.