Dhoni’s biggest fan is a Nepalese fashion designer who is one of the faces behind CSK’s Whistlepodu Army, started when the IPL team was down in the dumps
The Whistlepodu Army was formed in 2016, when CSK was banned for two years
I am a fashion designer from Biratnagar, Nepal, but before all of that, I was a Mahendra Singh Dhoni fan. I have been one since 2008. I remember watching him ever since his debut, and fondly recall the first T20 cup that we won under his leadership. In fact, my two loves of fashion and Dhoni combined, when I was studying at the Pearl Academy in Jaipur, where one of the modules needed me to design sportswear. I designed a collection based on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) theme.
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In cricket, obviously Nepal supports the country’s team. But there is also a huge IPL fan-base in the country. This fan club, the Whistlepodu Army, was formed in 2016, when CSK was suspended. My co-founder is Prabhu Damodharan, who is also in the fashion business, and is a textile professional hailing from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. We were disappointed that CSK wasn’t around, but we didn’t lose faith, and kept supporting the players. We knew that they would make a comeback, and in a way, it was an important time to motivate them.
Sonal Goyal
In the beginning, we had 10k followers. But in 2018, when CSK made their comeback, the fans started stacking up, and today we stand at 2,72,000 followers. Many fans request an appointment with Thala Dhoni, but the irony is that we’ve not met MSD since we formed the fan club! Some even think we are in close connect with players, but the fact is that we are also fans like a million others, just enjoying the journey of the team.
I actually met Mahi in 2014 in Delhi, when I won a contest, but haven’t met him since. I know that he is aware of the handle, and that we have supported the team during its tough periods.
The aim of the handle is to be by the fans, and for the fans. The engagement has to be high all the time. For example, during the auction, we asked followers who they’d like to see in the CSK colours. During match time, we had giveaways and constant news updates.
We have the best fans, who take care of our trolls as well. Sometimes, fans of other teams come by and leave comments like “Dhoni should retire”, or “drop Raina [Suresh]”, and before I have even noticed the comment, our followers have reacted and taken care of the situation. These keyboard warriors, aka trolls, then don’t know how to react. We, however, encourage ignoring such comments, as we don’t want any negativity on our page.
The most emotional achievement for us was winning the Fan Club of the Year in 2019. All the players, and even celebrities from Tamil Nadu reached out to their fans on Twitter, and got them to vote for us. This year, too, when we held a Twitter Spaces event after CSK won the IPL, everyone got a little emotional.
Handling the account has never felt like a chore. Since I am a fan, it just happens naturally. Now, the aim is to take the follower count to 1 million. The auction is coming up, and that will be our chance.
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