An eternal bond stretched: for how much longer can CSK be Dhoni and Dhoni CSK? Premium

Dhoni's bond with Chennai and CSK, a tale of love, loyalty, and cricketing excellence in Tamil Nadu.

‘Vandharai vazhaveikkum Chennai’ is a popular saying in Tamil. Elaborately translated, it means a Chennai that helps every visitor find a life. At times, the nomenclature Chennai is replaced with Tamil Nadu, just to reflect a State that has welcomed diverse communities to its shores, plains and hills.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni neatly ties into this overwhelming socio-anthropological narrative. Earlier, it was Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, famously known as Rajinikanth, who blended in. One a cricketer from Ranchi; the other a superstar, a Marathi with deep roots in Bengaluru. ‘Dhoni and Rajini’ sounds like a rhyme and slots into the Tamil language’s tonality.

There is a sense of ownership that fans in Chennai, and Tamil Nadu at large, exude towards their favourite icons. Years ago, Kamal Haasan emphatically said this about the great actor and comedian, Nagesh: “His roots may be Kannadiga, but he is ours, we won’t give him up.” If Kamal can say such a thing, you can imagine the random fan’s affection for his or her idol!

Truly, the macroscopic index highlights an indulgence towards the outsider, who then becomes a quintessential insider. Dhoni sails in that boat. Sport takes an athlete to various stages, largely a theatre of love where fine skills garner adulation irrespective of place of origin, accent, dialect, religion and bank-balance.

The symbiosis that Dhoni and Chennai share is unique. There was Lionel Messi and Barcelona. Yet at some point the great Argentine footballer moved on from FC Barcelona. Dhoni may not speak Tamil while Messi speaks Spanish, the language of the street in Barcelona and Buenos Aires, and yet the ties that bind Dhoni and Chennai through the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) connection are mighty strong.

If Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru have remained fused right from the maiden Indian Premier League in 2008, Dhoni’s umbilical cord with CSK was once nipped briefly. The spot-fixing and betting scandal in 2013 and the subsequent inquiry led to the suspension of CSK during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

To be fair to Dhoni and his teammates, none of them were tainted with any whiff of corruption, but the franchise had to pay a price for the foibles of Gurunath Meiyappan, a key member in the franchise’s structure. Dhoni then turned out for Rising Pune Supergiant. But once the hiatus was lifted, he promptly returned to CSK in the 2018 season and won the championship.