Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta took to social media to slam reports of her approaching the franchise's mentor Virender Sehwag and blasting the former Team India opener after their loss to Rajasthan Royals on May 8 in the 2018 Indian Premier League. As reports suggest, the KXIP co-owner who has been present at Punjab's every match, was not pleased with the tactics during match which led to the altercation.
The R Ashwin-led team suffered a 15-run loss to Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday. There were reports that indicated that Preity had confronted Sehwag after the loss. There have been no comments or statement by Sehwag so far on this matter but Preity took to Twitter to quash the reports.
Preity tweeted: “A conversation between Viru & me has been blown out of proportion & suddenly I’m a Villian ! Wow !… We didn’t do Media net & pay them to write articles cuz that’s the only time they get it right.”
In Match 40 of the IPL, there were some strange decisions that were made by the coaches as the skipper R Ashwin was sent down to bat at the number 3 and was soon dismissed for a duck. The middle order batsmen were also sent backpacking early, but it was opener KL Rahul who hung on to score an emphatic and unbeaten 95 off 70 balls. Rahul's brilliant innings went in vain as KXIP lost by 15 runs against the Ajinkya Rahane led side at Jaipur.
A source told Mumbai Mirror that Preity confronted Sehwag when he sent down Ashwin to bat in the middle-order.
“However, when Preity continued to blame him, saying ‘unnecessary’ tinkering with the playing XI had led to a spate of defeats, Sehwag tried to reason with her,” added the report.
It is learnt that Sehwag had clearly told the other KXIP owners - Ness Wadia, and Mohit Burman – to keep Preity in check as the Bollywood actress, in the past, had tried to interfere in the cricketing aspects of the team, which Sehwag looks into.
“Viru had told the other owners to rein in Preity. He told the owners that he’ll not comment on Preity’s acting chops and she should refrain from talking about his cricketing acumen,” a source close to KXIP said.
While those close to the IPL team conceded that Preity was “upset” because of the defeat, they also said that the Preity-Sehwag’s interaction was a “routine post-match conversation between the owner and the team mentor”.
The other KXIP owner, Burman, meanwhile, said that he spoke with Preity and Sehwag and there’s no problem.
“But as far as I know, there is no problem. I have spoken to Viru and Preity,” said Burman.
Kings XI Punjab will now host a determined and vengeance filled Kolkata Knight Riders at the Holkar stadium in Indore on May 11.
