India captain Shubman Gill finally brought an end to his bad luck when it came to coin tosses, as he stood on the winning side for the first time ever as India’s Test skipper. Since taking over the reins as India’s captain on the tour of England, Gill had never tasted success when it came to coin tosses. After six consecutive toss losses, he won one against West Indies skipper Roston Chase on Friday in New Delhi.
As soon as Gill won the toss, the entire Indian camp, including marquee pacer Jasprit Bumrah and head coach Gautam Gambhir, started to laugh, poking fun at Gill after he finally managed to break the toss ‘curse’.
After six consecutive losses, Shubman Gill finally wins the toss, with teammates congratulating their skipper. #indvswi #shubmangill #ravindrajadeja #bharatarmy #coti🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/HFOdUb7boI
— The Bharat Army (@thebharatarmy) October 10, 2025
India have retained the same playing XI that had defeated the Roston Chase-led West Indies by an innings and 140 runs in the first Test at Ahmedabad.
Gill said India would like to put on a big total as the wicket looks conducive for batting.
West Indies made two changes, bringing in Tevin Imlach and Anderson Phillip in place of Brandon King and Johann Layne.
Gill said at the toss: “We will bat first, the wicket looks good to bat on Day 1. Consistency is the key for us-to be able to repeat performances and to be able to have the same intensity in every match that we play. That’s something that we often speak about, and that’s what we are trying to look for in this Test match as well. Honestly, not much. I’m still the same person, but definitely have more responsibilities now, but I like responsibilities and a very exciting future for me (on being elevated across all formats). We have got the same team.”
Chase, on the other hand, was disappointed to have lost the toss.
The West Indies skipper said: “We were batting first as well; the pitch looks dry, so not too worried. Obviously, we had some meetings and some deep discussions as batters. And something that came up in the meetings was that we want to really try to bat the whole day and bat 90 overs. That’s something that we’re really looking forward to doing. I just think we need to stay positive, in the present, and just play every ball on merit and not worry about what’s happened before. Yeah, two changes: King is out and Johann Layne is out; Tevin Imlach is in and Anderson Phillip is in. We just take that Anderson Phillip with the new ball; he’s a good new-ball bowler. We think we need to strike early with the new ball. And also Imlach-he’s a good player of spin, coming from Guyana and used to these kind of low, turning tracks. So we think he’ll be a good fit for this wicket.”
West Indies Playing XI: Tagenarine Chanderpaul, John Campbell, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope, Kevon Imlach (wk), Roston Chase (c), Justin Greaves, Khary Pierre, Jomel Warrican, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales.
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, B Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
With PTI Inputs