IPL 2018: Preity Zinta refutes rumors of tiff between her and Virender Sehwag; calls it fake news

KXIP have lost three out of their last four matches in IPL 2018.

Preity Zinta, co-owner of IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab, is a constant sight at the team’s matches and during auctions. She is always seen enthusiastically cheering for the team at the ground and waving the flag of the team, or bidding for players in the auction.

However, there were reports of her enthusiasm going out of bounds into the dressing room. In 2016, Mumbai Mirror had reported that Zinta had threatened then coach Sanjay Bangar with termination after KXIP lost a string of matches. Now the same paper has reported that Zinta got into a major fight with the director of cricket operations and former KXIP opener Virender Sehwag.

Reportedly, Zinta gave Sehwag a tongue lashing in front of players, after Kings XI Punjab lost their last clash against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur. “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 told Mirror.

The source said “Sehwag initially played it cool. 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.”

This is not the first time Sehwag and Zinta have clashed and a source said, “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.”

Mumbai Mirror tried reaching both Preity Zinta and Virender Sehwag for comments but got no response. However, now Preity Zinta took to Twitter to clarify her side on this matter.

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”