Thread by @ovshake42

Michael Tissera turns 82.

His name features alongside Garry Sobers in the trophy an ongoing Test series is being played for.

That, we know.

What is rarely discussed is that he is the only man to have led Sri Lanka to a Test match win on Indian soil, albeit an unofficial one.
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Before going into that, a bit about Tissera, a stylish batsman, an efficient leg-spinner, and a superb fielder.

Only 30 of his matches were granted First-Class status.

In these, he had 1,394 runs at 28 and 27 wickets at 32.
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If one considers all 76 recorded matches the numbers read 2,930 runs at 32 and 66 wickets at 24.

But Tissera's legacy stretches beyond that.

He was part of the NCC that won the Sara Trophy in 1957/58 and 1960/61. He led them to the Saravanamuttu Trophy in 1969/70 and 1970/71.
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His first famous innings came against a touring Australian side.

After the tourists made 249, Tissera scored 51* in 31 minutes. With 12 fours.

He led Ceylon Board President's XI to wins against a strong Pakistan A side.

But let us now visit that 1964/65 "Test" in Ahmedabad.
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India had nine men who played or would play Test cricket.

Pataudi, Sardesai, Engineer, Baig, Hanumant, Ramesh Saxena, Ambar Roy, Venkat, Umesh Kulkarni.

The other two were Rajinder Goel and Chandroth Bhaskaran.

How were Ceylon doing on the tour?
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They were thrashed in the first two "Tests", by an innings at Bangalore and by 7 wickets at Hyderabad.

They almost lost the tour match against Maharashtra as well.

Nobody gave them a chance.

Here, there were only 90 minutes of play on the first two days. India reached 51/3.
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They were bowled out for 189 on Day 3.

Ceylon were reduced to ten men even before their innings began.

An edge had flown to the slips to break the glasses of Trevelyan Edward.

The injured Edward was ruled out of the match. He was an opening batsman.

Ceylon soon became 25/5.
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Tissera fought for a while for his 28, but he fell on 57.

Polonwita and Fernando then added 85. At stumps Ceylon were 144/7.

This was a four-day match. One day remained. There was no question of a result.

But Tissera thought otherwise.
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He had watched the wicket carefully on Day 3.

He realised that the overnight dew assisted seamers.

So he declared overnight, 45 runs behind.

India soon became 4/3. They never recovered.

Frederick, Jayasinghe, and Polonwita picked up three wickets each.
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Roy and Saxena were the only ones to reach 10. India were bowled out for 66.

But Ceylon still had to get those 112 without Edward.

They reached 77/1 before Goel took out their batsmen one by one. They were soon 98/6.

Someone had to stay put. It had to be Tissera, of course.
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Ceylon won by 4 wickets.

Two years later, a rampant West Indian side thrashed India 2-0 before touring Ceylon.

Tissera's men did really well against them.

In one of the matches, Tissera hit 20 boundaries including 20 in 2 overs off Hall.

Hall was impressed.
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When Tissera was on 96, Hall – a terror to batsmen around the world – bowled a full toss to help him get that hundred.

In 1968/69, Tissera's men chased down 237 to beat an English side.

At 36, Tissera was part of the first Sri Lankan ODI squad, in the 1975 World Cup.
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Sri Lanka lost all three matches, but they did scare Australia for a while.

It took a desperate bouncer barrage from Thomson to stop them from pulling off a miracle.

Despite the injuries to Wettimuny and Mendis, Sri Lanka kept the chase on.
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Tissera, 36, scored 52 in 72 balls against a full-strength Australian attack.

Sri Lanka scored 276/4. It remained the highest score for any team batting second in an ODI till 1982.