File image of Virender Sehwag and Priety Zinta. (BCCI Image)
New Delhi: Kings XI Punjab co-owner Priety Zinta has publicly denied having a spat with team mentor Virender Sehwag after a report in Mumbai Mirror had claimed that the Bollywood actress had blamed the former India opener for the team's defeat against Rajasthan Royals.
Zinta took to Twitter to slam the report and said: "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 !"
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 ! #fakenewshttps://t.co/qGOYhCiVtV
Earlier, Mumbai Mirror had claimed that the decision to send Ravinchandran Ashwin up the order didn't go down well with the co-owner as the skipper was dismissed for a duck on just the second ball that he faced.
"Against Rajasthan Royals, skipper Ravichandran Ashwin was sent in at number three, ahead of more accomplished batsmen such as Karun Nair and Manoj Tiwari. The move backfired as Ashwin fell for a duck, and Preity launched into Sehwag for the decision," a source was quoted as saying by the daily.
"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," he added.
This didn't go down well with the legendary India opener and according to the report, Sehwag spoke to other owners of KXIP and asked them to stop Zinta from 'interfering' with his job.
"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 refrain from talking about his cricketing acumen," the source was quoted as saying by the daily.
Overall, Kings XI Punjab have been one of the stand-outs team in the ongoing edition of the cash-rich league and have won six out of their opening 10 matches thus far. However, in the last few matches, they have fallen down a bit after losing three matches of their last five games.
KXIP will now lock horns against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Saturday and will for a win and get closer to sealing a place in the knock-outs.
Also Watch
Trump Pulls Out Of Iran Nuke Deal & What's In It For India?
Live TV