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.

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.