‘Ravi Shastri, you are responsible too, you’ll get sacked': Atherton stumps ex-India coach for Shubman Gill's misfortune

Shubman Gill had a frustrating, resigned and inevitable look on his face when the coin landed in England's favour in the fifth and final Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. It was Gill's fifth toss loss in a row. This was the 14th instance of a team losing all five tosses in a five-Test series; the only previous one in the 21st century came during India's tour of England in 2018. Former England captain Mike Atherton light-heartedly said former India head coach Ravi Shastri, who conducted all five tosses in the series, should take part of the blame for it. Ravi Shastri conducting the toss of India vs England 5th Test

Gill not winning a single toss in five attempts was not the end of India's woes. The Oval toss loss was India's 15th in a row across formats. The last toss that any captain of the Indian men's cricket team won was on January 28 in a T20I against England. The captain was Suryakumar Yadav. Rohit Sharma didn't manage to win a single toss after that. That, however, made little impact as far as the results were concerned. Rohit led India to the Champions Trophy title despite not winning a single toss in the entire tournament.

Gill was hoping for something similar. "Don't mind losing the toss as long as we win the game. I was a bit confused yesterday about what to do, was a bit overcast but the wicket looks good, we'll look to post good runs in the first innings. Should be a good pitch for the bowlers," Gill told Shastri after England opted to bowl on a pitch that had a lot of grass on it.

As play began and Shastri entered the commentary box, Atherton did not leave the opportunity to take a jibe at the former India all-rounder. "You are doing these tosses, you are responsible too. You will get sacked," Atherton said on commentary.

"When the coin landed, he (Gill) did not look up," Shastri said.

Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan steady India after early wickets

India reached 72 for 2 at lunch on Day 1, recovering after losing both openers early on a green-tinged surface that offered plenty to the seamers.

Put into bat on the greenest pitch of the series, India were rocked early as Gus Atkinson, playing his first match of the series, trapped Yashasvi Jaiswal (2) LBW in the second over. The decision was overturned on review as the ball was shown to be hitting the stumps.

KL Rahul, one of India’s most consistent batters this series, departed next for 14. Attempting a cut off a relatively innocuous short delivery from Chris Woakes, Rahul chopped on, leaving India 36 for 2 inside the first hour.

Despite the early blows, captain Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan showed poise and control, guiding India to a solid position before lunch, which was taken early due to a sudden downpour. Gill, chasing Sunil Gavaskar’s record for most runs in a bilateral series, looked in fine touch with confident strokes, including a cover punch and short-arm pulls off Jamie Overton.

India made four changes, with Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Karun Nair, and Dhruv Jurel coming into the XI. England, without injured Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, also fielded a fresh-looking pace attack.

With rain interrupting play and conditions favouring seam movement, an intriguing battle lies ahead in this series decider.

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