One integral part of any Cricket match since our childhood has been the coin toss. In absence of an actual coin, we Indian kids tend to flip anything available. We used to flip an empty wrapper of a pan masala with sides marked as Hindi/English.
The concept is very simple. Two parties agree to hand over the advantage based on a coin toss. This flipping angularly prevents the coin landing on its edge which otherwise has probability of 1/6000. It wasn't always used though just for deciding a start in a sports like cricket, football or chess, but also for settling minor disputes in older days. In fact, from Romans to Chinese, this tradition was prevalent with two sides of the coins marked with 'Head' of the emperor and image of a 'Ship'. This 'head & ship' underwent its own variations across European countries.
What came to be considered a common practice across the globe today was to call the two sides 'head' & 'tail', as these are considered start and end points of any being.
As I said, it's an essential part of Cricket. But there is a growing support to scrap this practice as it is bearing huge influence on the match outcomes. Even if that happens, we will perhaps stick to our own Hindi/English version in my village though.
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