When Ceylon beat India in India
View(s):The tour comprised three four-day games with India winning 2-1, and five other first class games.
Ceylon’s victory in the third unofficial ‘Test’ was its first victory over a ‘Test-playing’ nation. It is still Sri Lanka’s only victory over India in India.
The team comprised Michael Tissera as captain, Neil Chanmugam, Premachandra de Silva, Muttiah Devaraj, Sylvester Dias, Trevelyn Edwards, Ranjit Fernando, Herbert I.K. Fernando, Norton Fredrick, Abu Fuard, Lareef Idroos, Stanley Jayasinghe, Darrell Lieversz, Anuruddha Polonowita, Mano Ponniah, Lasantha Rodrigo and Dhanasiri Weerasinghe.
Of the 17 tourists, 13 (all but Devaraj, Dias, Ranjit Fernando and Idroos) appeared in the three-match series against India. India used 19 players.
After a drawn match against Indian Universities in Madras, the Ceylon team played India in Bangalore. The strong Indian team won easily: batting first, they scored 508 for 4 (centuries by Dilip Sardesai and Hanumant Singh) before declaring and dismissed Ceylon for 205 and 257, and thereby winning by an innings and 46 runs. B.S. Chandrasekhar took five wickets in each innings.
The second unofficial Test followed in Hyderabad a few days later, resulted in another clear win for India, declaring at 505 for 6 (centuries by M.L. Jaisimha and Chandu Borde), dismissed Ceylon for 280 and 378, then scored 154 for 3 (a century by Farook Engineer) to win by 7 wickets. Stanley Jayasinghe, who had scored 20 and 63 in the first match, top scored in each innings with 78, and 135 in the second match. Michael Tissera scored 26 and 122. Ceylon then drew against Maharashtra, and lost by 9 wickets in Baroda to an inexperienced Indian Board President’s XI which included only one Test player.
For the third match in the series, played in Ahmedabad, India made six changes, thereby creating a much younger team. The first day’s play was washed out, and play did not begin until late on the second day. The pitch naturally remained damp throughout the match. On the third day, India was dismissed for 189, the experienced Jayasinghe taking 6 for 38 and Norton Fredrick claiming 4 for 85.
During the innings, a ball struck Ceylon’s opening batsman Edwards fielding in the slips, over the eye, breaking his spectacles and necessitating several stitches in the wound. He took no further part in the game, so Ceylon batted in both innings with only ten men. On the third day Ceylon were 144 for seven. Sensing that dew would make the pitch difficult for batting on the final morning, Tissera declared at the overnight score, 45 runs in arrears, and Fredrick, Jayasinghe and Polonowita each took three wickets in dismissing India for 66 in 26.4 overs. This was the lowest ever total by India in India against Ceylon. Ceylon reached their winning target of 112 in 55.2 overs,
The remaining two matches, against Bombay and Madras, were drawn.
In the three matches against India, Jayasinghe was Ceylon’s outstanding player, scoring 318 runs at an average of 53.00, and taking nine wickets at 16.33. Tissera was the next most successful batsman, with 249 runs at 49.80, and Fredrick the next most successful bowler, with eight wickets at 27.87.