Captain Virat Kohli snapped his toss jinx ahead of the match Super 12 clash against Scotland on his birthday in Dubai on Friday, with India set to chase for the first time in the ongoing T20 World Cup.  

India lost the toss in all three previous matches at the showpiece event, an important factor considering the slow wickets in the UAE. The Men in Blue were asked to bat on all three occassions, which helped the sharp bowling attack of both Pakistan and New Zealand to put the Indian batters under pressure from the off. 

The result was two crushing defeats against their arch-rivals Pakistan and bogey team New Zealand, leaving their chances of making the semi-finals hanging by the thread. 

However, the Indian batsmen turned on the style in their 66-run win over Afghanistan, with Rohit Sharma (74) and KL Rahul (69) sharing their fourth century partnership to help India post 210 for the loss of two, the biggest total of the World Cup so far.  

On Friday, celebrating his 33rd birthday, Kohli finally won the toss at the World Cup, and as expected, the skipper put Scotland to bat first. India have traditionally been a strong chasing side, with Kohli boasting a mind-boggling record while chasing in white-ball cricket. 

Speaking at the toss, Kohli jokingly said India should have played their first game on his birthday. “Winning my first toss on my birthday, probably we should have played the first game on my birthday.”

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He also said that the dew factor will be important, and that the plan is to try restricting them to set up an easy chase.

“The intensity from ball one is important. For us, it’s just about keeping that intensity on for 20 overs. That’s something we expect from people and people have done that over the years as well,” the skipper said. 

Kohli’s toss record

The Delhi-born batsman has won the toss only 18 out of 47 times he has captain India in T20Is, according to statisticians on Twitter. In Tests, he has lost the toss 37 times of out 63 matches as captain, while calling the coin flip correctly 40 out of 95 times in ODIs. 

Overall, out of 203 matches as captain of the Indian cricket team, Kohli has lost the toss 118 times and has called it correctly 85 times.