Shreyas Iyer becomes first T20I captain to win 11 consecutive tosses

India captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss in the second T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on September 15, 2026, extending his record to 11 consecutive toss wins. This achievement makes Iyer the first T20I captain to win 11 tosses in his opening 12 matches in the format. Iyer, appointed captain after T20 World Cup 2026 winner Suryakumar Yadav was dropped from the Indian team, has surpassed previous records held by non-full-member team captains Mirza Baig of Qatar and Henry Tyler of Philippines, each with 10 toss wins in their first 12 matches. Among full-member nations, only England's Eoin Morgan and Bangladesh's Mahmudullah Riyad come close with nine toss wins each.

Electing to field first after winning the toss, India continued their dominance in the series with a 1-0 lead after defeating Afghanistan by seven wickets in the opening T20I on September 13. The series began with a challenging phase for Iyer's leadership, as India suffered defeats in early matches against Ireland and England before bouncing back with a 3-0 series victory in Zimbabwe. In contrast to India's attacking start, Afghanistan sought quick recovery after a lopsided opening loss where they were restricted to 156 runs, with contributions from Azmatullah Omarzai (64 off 44 balls) and Mohammad Nabi helping stage a late-innings rally.

India made one forced change to their playing eleven, with leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi replacing mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who sustained a side strain during his third over in the first T20I and was ruled out for the remaining two matches of the series. The second T20I featured updated team compositions, with Sanju Samson returning to open alongside Abhishek Sharma in place of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, following Samson's modest return of 10 runs off 8 balls in the opener. Afghanistan brought their unchanged first-choice XI to the match, including experienced players Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, seeking to exploit India's depleted bowling attack.

Iyer's toss-winning streak stands in stark contrast to the fortunes of previous Indian captains. Rohit Sharma famously endured an 11-toss losing streak in ODIs during his captaincy tenure, while in T20Is Iyer has recorded 18 toss wins in 2026 alone—placing him second only to Rohit Sharma's 2022 record of 22 toss wins in a calendar year for Indian T20I captains. Sources note that Iyer's only toss loss as Indian captain came in the second T20I against Zimbabwe during his first series win. The milestone reflects statistical dominance in the coin-flip aspect of cricket, though the broader impact of Iyer's captaincy remains tied to India's on-field performance in this three-match series scheduled to conclude on September 17.