Skipper MS Dhoni’s 70-run willow wonder failed to save the day for Chennai Super Kings. The boys in yellow lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets on Sunday, catapulting the latter to the top of the IPL table. (PTI)

May 22: He’s played a captain’s knock of an unbeaten 70 off 40 deliveries for Chennai Super Kings in Bangalore, against home team Royal Challengers at the 69th IPL match today.

But lost out to the Gayle hurricane.

Yet Chennai cheers for Dhoni. On TV, he has been grooving in his yellow team sweatshirt, with Tamil paatis (grandmoms) in nine-yard saris and dark shades, young bike boys and girls practising Bharatnatyam moves, all blowing the whistle. He’s blown the whistle with the boys in the dressing room. And then he’s said in faultless Tamil: “Chennai Super Kings ku whistle podu. (Blow the whistle for Chennai Super Kings).”

It is Tamilspeak for seetee baja ke, Chennai equivalent of the Mexican wave. Though the defending champs have had a roller-coaster innings in IPL-4, they are riding high on Whistle Podu (Blow the Whistle), the one-minute music video that celebrates “our boy” M.S. Dhoni. “Enga thala Dhoniku periya whistle adinga (Whistle aloud for our leader Dhoni)” goes a line in the song by Arvind & Jaishankar.

Chennaiites are watching it on TV, humming it, joining the Whistle Podu community page on Facebook and downloading it as ringtones.

Chennai’s Thoraipakkam resident and 26-year-old software engineer Raghavendran confesses he is an IPL fanatic, thanks to Dhoni.

“It’s a privilege to have him as captain,” he said. And what about Dhoni in Whistle Podu? “His accent is pretty decent,” the Tamilian endorses.

Dhoni transcends the so-called North-South divide. “IPL stands on how strongly people cheer for city teams. With cricketers sans regional affiliation, the challenge is to align them to the values of cities through personality transformation. In IPL, Dhoni’s a Chennai boy,” says Mudar Patherya, who wrote Wills Book of Excellence: Cricket and Penguin Book of Cricket Lists.

“Mahi stands for mental strength that appeals to Chennaiites,” says Souvik Misra, executive creative director, Bates 141.

What does Ranchi say about this southern hijack? “Ranchi does not have an IPL team, so it doesn’t matter which city he plays for,” says Yogesh Kaushal (23), Old Hazaribagh Road resident. “Chennai should be proud Dhoni plays for them,” adds friend Anand Kanoria.

The message from Ranchi is loud and clear. He may be your pin-up boy, Chennai, but he’s our boy.