View source for Kilvidi Seshachari

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{{Short description|Indian cricketer}}
{{Infobox cricketer
|name=Kilvidi Seshachari
|image=Kilvidi-Seshachari.jpg
|batting=Right-handed
|role=Wicket-keeper
|birth_date={{Birth date|1875|01|02|df=1}}
|birth_place=[[Madras]], [[British India]]
|death_date={{Death date and age|1917|01|25|1875|01|02|df=1}}
|death_place=[[Calcutta]], British India
|club1 = [[Hindus cricket team|Hindus]]
|year1 = {{nowrap|1902/03–1912/13}}
|columns = 1
|hidedeliveries = true
|column1 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
|matches1 = 19
|runs1 = 138
|bat avg1 = 5.75
|top score1 = 29
|100s/50s1 = 0/0
|catches/stumpings1 = 20/16
|source = https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/kilvidi-seshachari-34808 CricInfo
|date = 29 November
|year = 2021
}}

'''Kilvidi Seshachari''' (2 January 1875{{spnd}}25 January 1917) was an Indian cricketer and a member of the [[Indian cricket team in England in 1911|first Indian cricket team to tour England in 1911]]. He played for the [[Hindus cricket team|Hindus]] team as a [[wicket-keeper]] in the [[Bombay Quadrangular|Bombay Presidency]] tournaments between 1902 and 1912. He was considered the best wicket-keeper in India in reports from the period. In addition to the Hindus cricket team in Bombay and the Indian team that toured England, Seshachari played for the Ootacamund Civilians and the [[Maharaja of Natore]]'s cricket teams.

== Biography ==
Seshachari was born on 2 January 1875{{efn|There is some confusion about Seshachari's date of birth, with some reports indicating that it was 2 January 1876. The [[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]] of 1913 indicates that it was 2 January 1875.}} in [[Madras]], in what was then [[British India]] into an [[Iyengar]] [[Tamil Brahmin]] family.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last=Kidambi|first=Prashant|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=50KjDwAAQBAJ&dq=Madras-born&pg=PA159|title=Cricket Country|date=2019-07-25|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-884313-9|language=en|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130003349/https://books.google.ca/books?id=50KjDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA159&lpg=PA159&dq=%22kilvidi+seshachari%22+tamil+brahmin&source=bl&ots=d-dln8kw4B&sig=ACfU3U3V2cMHdtAs6eHjDYSI_3BcAkCjMQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLgLeK6770AhW5GDQIHUTGBUkQ6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q=Madras-born&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Publishing|first=Bloomsbury|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CD3rDwAAQBAJ&dq=k.+seshachari+cricket+1913&pg=PA120|title=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 1918|date=2020-09-03|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4729-8378-7|language=en|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130022621/https://books.google.ca/books?id=CD3rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA120&lpg=PA120&dq=k.+seshachari+cricket+1913&source=bl&ots=8IggAyxrO6&sig=ACfU3U2mcmTAieDZlJU70J8g0WvbEHfH2g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN_tW8gr_0AhXrDzQIHbbkB5QQ6AF6BAgWEAM#v=onepage&q=k.%20seshachari%20cricket%201913&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> He took up playing cricket in his teens and soon became a well known [[wicket-keeper]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Publishing|first=Bloomsbury|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-dvppTiQQUC&dq=mukundrao+pai+dulwich&pg=PT94|title=The Shorter Wisden 2011: Selected writing from Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2011|date=2011-04-14|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-4081-9699-1|language=en|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130010731/https://books.google.ca/books?id=w-dvppTiQQUC&pg=PT94&lpg=PT94&dq=mukundrao+pai+dulwich&source=bl&ots=J7H7AJpXfh&sig=ACfU3U2E_Qma2zcgD256ZhNaMo9BljMO5g&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjgnI_k8b70AhUmLTQIHdodC18Q6AF6BAgDEAM#v=onepage&q=mukundrao%20pai%20dulwich&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> He played during this period as a member of various minor clubs before being elected a member of the "Premier Hindu Club of Southern India".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=2019-11-21|title=Madras Men in India's first English cricket tour – 1 « Madras Musings {{!}} We Care for Madras that is Chennai|url=http://www.madrasmusings.com/vol-29-no-15/madras-men-in-indias-first-english-cricket-tour-1/|access-date=2021-11-30|website=www.madrasmusings.com|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130013800/http://www.madrasmusings.com/vol-29-no-15/madras-men-in-indias-first-english-cricket-tour-1/|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of the records of the period have Seshachari listed as an alumnus of [[Dulwich College]] in London, England.<ref name=":0" /> 

In the early 1900s, Seshachari moved to [[Ootacamund]], in Southern India, to work. There he was formally trained as a cricketer by Europeans who played the game, including the missionary and cricketer, [[Charles Studd]] who was a pastor in the local church. It was here that Seshachari practised his wicket-keeping skills with balls being thrown at him indiscriminately, improving his reflexes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Cricket 1906|url=https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1906/217/#zoom=z|access-date=2021-11-30|website=archive.acscricket.com|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130003855/https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1906/217/#zoom=z|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Records from the period called him the best [[Stumped|stumper]] in India.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> During this time, he helped the United Hindus draw a game against the visiting Oxford Authentics in 1902.<ref name=":1" /> He continued to travel to Bombay to play for the [[Hindus cricket team]] in the annual [[Bombay Quadrangular|Bombay Presidency]] cricket tournament. A report in the 1903 ''Indian Sporting Times'' about his performance for United Hindus against the [[Parsees cricket team|Parsees]] said, "Seshachari is a stumper of the highest order, and has no equal in India."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cricket 1906|url=https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1906/217/#zoom=z|access-date=2021-11-30|website=archive.acscricket.com|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130003855/https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1906/217/#zoom=z|url-status=live}}</ref>  Building on strong performances in the tournament he was picked for the 1904 tour of the team to England, which was later aborted.<ref name=":2" /> He was recruited in 1906 by the [[Maharaja of Natore]] in [[Bengal]] in a successful attempt to defeat the all-European [[Calcutta Cricket Club]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last=Majumdar|first=Boria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FcyMAQAAQBAJ&dq=k.+seshachari+cricket+1913&pg=PA6|title=Cricket in Colonial India 1780 – 1947|date=2013-10-18|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-97013-2|language=en|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130022946/https://books.google.ca/books?id=FcyMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=k.+seshachari+cricket+1913&source=bl&ots=W32heTb8yV&sig=ACfU3U1Pt-xV1A1L4Bpivjno0IfL7UN83w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN_tW8gr_0AhXrDzQIHbbkB5QQ6AF6BAgVEAM#v=onepage&q=k.%20seshachari%20cricket%201913&f=false|archive-date=2021-11-30|url-status=live}}</ref> He continued to play for the team through the early 1910s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|last=Guha|first=Ramachandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=je7DBAAAQBAJ|title=A Corner of a Foreign Field: The Indian History of a British Sport|date=2014-10-10|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-93-5118-693-9|language=en|access-date=2021-11-30|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130023426/https://books.google.com/books?id=je7DBAAAQBAJ&newbks=0&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":5" /> In this same period, work in the plantations kept him busy, although he played regularly for the Hindus in Bombay, Ootacamund Civilians, and for the Maharaja of Natore's teams.<ref name=":2" />

Seshachari was a member of the [[Indian cricket team in England in 1911|Indian cricket team that toured England in 1911]], under the captaincy of the 19-year-old [[Bhupinder Singh of Patiala]].<ref name=":0" /> He was one of the three Hindu Brahmin men on the team; the other two being [[Bangalore Jayaram]] and [[Mukundrao Pai]] from Bombay. In addition to Hindus, the team had representation from the Parsee and [[Muslims cricket team]]s, making it the first all-Indian team to tour the British Isles.<ref name=":0" /> In the tour, Seshachari, as the wicket-keeper, made for a formidable pair with [[Spin bowling|spinner]] [[Palwankar Baloo]]. Despite his personal success behind the stumps, the team's collective performance was considered sub-par, winning only 2 of the 23 games that they played.<ref name=":2" /> 

Seshachari played his last match in the [[Bombay Quadrangular]] in 1912. After this, he played only occasionally for the Maharaja of Natore's team.<ref name=":2" /> He returned to London in 1913, with a report in the July 1913 edition of the ''Cricket'' magazine calling him one among the "two best wicket-keepers who have ever represented overseas teams in England", with the other one being the South African wicket-keeper [[Ernest Halliwell]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cricket 1913|url=https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1913/396/#zoom=z|access-date=2021-11-30|website=archive.acscricket.com|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130021658/https://archive.acscricket.com/cricket/1913/396/#zoom=z|url-status=live}}</ref> He remained associated with the game as an umpire, including officiating the finals of the 1913/14 edition of the [[Bombay Quadrangular]] in which the Hindus drew against the Muslims.<ref>{{Cite web|title=cricHQ|url=https://leaderboards.crichq.com/competitions/5993-bombay-quadrangular-tournament/draws/13759-bombay-quadrangular-tournament-1913-14/rounds|access-date=2021-11-30|website=leaderboards.crichq.com|archive-date=2021-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130021931/https://leaderboards.crichq.com/competitions/5993-bombay-quadrangular-tournament/draws/13759-bombay-quadrangular-tournament-1913-14/rounds|url-status=live}}</ref>  

Seshachari died from pneumonia on 25 January 1917 at [[Calcutta Medical College]]. He was aged 42.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4" />

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Cricinfo|id=34808}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1917 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in India]]
[[Category:Indian cricketers]]
[[Category:Hindus cricketers]]
[[Category:People educated at Dulwich College]]
[[Category:Members of the first Indian cricket team to tour England in 1911]]
[[Category:Indian Hindus]]
[[Category:Tamil Brahmins]]