Co-owner of Kings XI Punjab, Preity Zinta, was reportedly upset with Virender Sehwag’s tactics. This happened during the team’s 15-run defeat to Rajasthan Royals. The match took place in Jaipur on Tuesday, May 8. She severely criticized the former Indian captain in the dressing room after the game. Kings XI Punjab is jointly owned by Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and businessman Mohit Burman.
Bollywood actress and Kings XI Punjab co-owner, Preity Zinta, had a heated argument with mentor Virender Sehwag after Kings XI Punjab lost their Indian Premier League (IPL) outing to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur on Tuesday, May 8.
Vitriolic Verbal Barrage
Sehwag was at the receiving end of “vitriolic verbal barrage” from Zinta, who had reached the Sawai Mansingh Stadium dressing room even before the players came back from the field, according to Mumbai Mirror. Zinta was “upset” over the result and blamed Sehwag for “unnecessary” tinkering with the playing XI in the last few matches and the batting order during their 15-run defeat to the Royals.
KXIP’s recent form — three defeats in their last four games — has also not gone down well with the popular actress, the report states. Report says, Preity approached Sehwag even before the players had retired to the change rooms after the match and questioned him about the ‘tactics’ used during the game.
The Ashwin Move
On Tuesday two changes were made to the team that had crushed the Royals by six wickets on Sunday, May 6.
Also, in an unexpected, move skipper R Ashwin was sent into bat at number three in a modest chase of 159 in Jaipur. The move backfired as the all-rounder was dismissed for a duck, following which the middle order collapsed. Sehwag was questioned for the Ashwin move and the former India captain initially played it cool, a source revealed, according to the report.
“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,”
the source said.
Report added that Sehwag has chosen not to comment on the incident. As he feels it would affect the team morale. Especially when KXIP are in with a good chance to make the playoffs. The Punjab-based franchise is sitting at the third spot with six wins from 10 games. Six points behind table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad. Co-owner Mohit Burman played the down the incident and insisted there is no problem with the management and the coaching staff.
She launched into Bangar at the team dugout. Reportedly, even used expletives in front of junior players and other support staff. Notably, Sehwag insisted the team owners make sure Preity doesn’t interfere with his job as the mentor of the team. Sehwag 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 also refrain from talking about his cricketing acumen.
Preity Clarified On Twitter
Preity Zinta clarified about the incident on Twitter, that nothing as such happened. This is what she tweeted.
Mumbai Mirror gets it wrong again because we didn’t do Media net & pay them to write articles cuz that’s the only time they get it right. A conversation between Viru & me has been blown out of proportion & suddenly I’m a Villian ! Wow ! #fakenews https://t.co/qGOYhCiVtV
— Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) May 11, 2018
Preity Zinta’s Lashings
This is not the first time that King’s XI coaching staff had to fend off Preity’s verbal lashings. News from 2016 is on the then coach, Sanjay Bangar. He was threatened with sacking by Zinta after a string of failures. On that occasion, after denying the incident, Preity took to social media to vent her anger. She is not always this way, however. When her team wins, she sure does put on a charming celebration. Check out images here.
