'Dhoni just won't fit in any other IPL team'

Just like the helicopter shot that became his signature style and the blue Team India jersey that became synonymous with his unmatched success, there's a connection between MS Dhoni and Chennai that is special. There's simply no Whistle Podu (Blow the whistle) in Tamil Nadu without the man. That's because there's no man who can match Dhoni's swagger, accolade and success. He and Chennai Super Kings have been together far too long - eight years now - to think of a disassociation.

The thought of Dhoni representing the Kolkata Knight Riders or the Delhi Daredevils or Mumbai Indians in the near future is simply unfathomable. In the last eight years, all billboards that he's been on, across the length and breadth of this country, have either been painted blue or yellow. Yellow, the colour that for years famously represented the Super Kings.

"The Super Kings have benefitted from Dhoni like no other franchise has from any other cricketer," says a franchise owner.

What about Mumbai Indians and Sachin Tendulkar? "Well, Tendulkar was for India what Dhoni is for Super Kings. The entire country and the game benefitted from Brand Tendulkar," he adds.

If the suspension of Chennai Super Kings has raised one big question, it is about Dhoni. What will happen to his IPL career if the Super Kings don't return. It's a question on everyone's mind. It's a factor that'll probably make franchises rejig their IPL budgets if he ever comes up for auction. Almost everybody's waiting to hear what Dhoni has to say.

"It's unlikely that Dhoni will ever leave India Cements," says a leading sports channel executive who's worked with the Team India captain. Dhoni is employed with the company as one of its vice-presidents.

"Sachin was the only one who could shift focus from one priority to another with sharpness. You couldn't discuss cricket with him during a commercial shoot and you couldn't discuss commercials with him on the ground. That was him," a marketing executive adds.

And somewhere close is Dhoni, a man identified with World Cup and World T20 success as much as he's identified as the Super Kings skipper.

"He just won't fit in any other team. It's a question of ideology which began making its way into the IPL. India's a country where dialect changes every 200 kilometres. It wouldn't have been easy for a Jharkhand man to live in Tamil Nadu but he's extremely comfortable there. Chennai is his home," says the TV executive.