Shubman Gill prays to god before toss ahead of 1st IND vs NZ ODI

Published - 11 Jan 2026, 14:13 IST | Updated - 11 Jan 2026, 14:27 IST

India captain Shubman Gill was seen praying to god before walking out for the toss ahead of the ongoing first ODI against New Zealand at the BCA Stadium, Vadodara on Sunday, January 11. Gill had a poor record in terms of winning the tosses for the Indian team, and as a result, the skipper wanted to leave no stone unturned to win the toss.

The video of the moment has been doing the rounds on social media, and has gone viral, where the fans are reacting differently to the hilarious moment. The move eventually worked wonders, as the coin flip went in favour of the Indian team. This was also the first toss win in ODIs for Gill, ever since he took over as the skipper.

"We will bowl first. Honestly, try different kinds of combinations, you know, see what combination suits us the best for different conditions, obviously when we play in India. Whenever you're bowling second, there's a bit of a challenge with the dew, and so try out what kind of combination suits our condition the best. It looks like a good wicket. Hopefully, I think it'll be a little bit easier to bat on in the second innings with the new coming in, and that was the thought process behind bowling first," Gill said after winning the toss.

"I think playing a bit of Vijay Hazare series, everyone is coming after playing some matches, so everyone looks in good form. We've played a lot of cricket together, so you know, the environment is always nice and calm whenever we get together. We are going with six bowlers, with Washi, Jadeja and Kuldeep as the spinners, and Prasidh, Siraj, and Harshit the three pacers," he concluded.

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India Playing XI for 1st ODI: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna