IPL 2018: Punjab play poorly against Rajasthan, Preity Zinta & Virender Sehwag fight

As the Indian Premier League inches to close by the end of this month, Punjab team owner Preity Zinta and Punjab team’s mentor Virender Sehwag found themselves in the middle of a verbal fight as the team failed to perform as expected on Tuesday. Punjab’s team failed to chase a modest target of 158 against the Rajasthan team which resulted in Preity losing her cool and reportedly questioning Sehwag on ‘tactics’ used during the game.

As reported by a leading daily, Preity approached Sehwag even before the players had retired to the change rooms after the match. A source revealed: “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.”

According to the source, Sehwag played it calm initially but lost his cool when things escalated. Source revealed: “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.”

As per the report, few people connected to the franchise played down the incident and called it a “routine post-match conversation between the owner and the team mentor” but did confirm that Preity was “upset” with the result.

On the issue, co-owner Mohit Burman said he was not present at the venue. “But as far as I know, there is no problem. I have spoken to Viru and Preity,” he said.

Sehwag was taken in Punjab’s team in 2017 when he opened the batting for the franchise. This year he is working in the capacity of a mentor and has played a key role in the auctions, getting Ashwin and Chris Gayle.