Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 19 : Bollywood actor and Punjab Kings' co-owner Preity Zinta on Saturday shut down the reports that claimed that her IPL franchise chose Shreyas Iyer over Rishabh Pant due to performance-based preferences.
An X user recently alleged that Zinta and the PBKS management had picked Iyer over Pant, on terms of a "big performer, not a big name."
"Rishabh Pant had said in an interview that I could go anywhere but not to Punjab Kings. But now Punjab owner Preity Zinta exposed Rishabh Pant and said, WE HAD BOTH RISHABH PANT AND SHREYAS IYER- OPTIONS WE COULD HAVE TAKEN IN THE TEAM. BUT WE WANTED A BIG PERFORMER, NOT A BIG NAME...SO WE TOOK SHREYAS IYER IN THE TEAM," the user wrote.
This particular post caught Zinta's attention. And in no time, she responded to the claims and said that the quote has no truth to it.
"I'm so sorry but this is FAKE NEWS" she wrote.
Shreyas Iyer was initially the most expensive IPL player in history, bought by PBKS for Rs 26.75 crores after a title-winning campaign with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as a captain. He outdid Australian pacer Mitchell Starc, who was picked by KKR during the auction for 2024 edition of the tournament at Rs 24.75 crores.
However, just minutes later, Pant managed to attract a bid from LSG which outdid that of Iyer and the left-handed wicketkeeper-batter went from Delhi Capitals (DC) to LSG for a record-breaking Rs 27 crore.
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