"Completely fake & baseless" - Punjab Kings owner Preity Zinta rubbishes reports of wanting Rohit Sharma as captain for IPL 2025
Punjab Kings (PBKS) owner Preity Zinta opened up on the speculations of her desire to bid for Rohit Sharma in the IPL 2025 mega auction on Friday (April 19).
As per Zinta, she holds high regard for former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma and current PBKS leader Shikhar Dhawan. However, the 49-year-old confirmed that she had not made any such comments.
The theory picked up wind as Sharma was replaced by Hardik Pandya as MI's captain for IPL 2024. Moreover, Dhawan, who is aged 38, is unlikely to be part of a long-term plan for the franchise.
The Bollywood actress requested the media houses to refrain from circulating fake news and deviating the attention of PBKS players and team management.
Preity's post on X read:
"#Fakenews ! All these articles are completely fake & baseless. I hold Rohit Sharma in very high regard & am a big fan of his, but I have NEVER DISCUSSED him in any interview nor made this STATEMENT ! I also have a lot of respect for Shikhar Dhawan & he being currently injured, makes these articles appear in very poor taste.
"These articles are a perfect example of how misinformation is picked up without any verification & circulated online. I humbly request all Media to refrain from circulating this & embarrassing all concerned parties 🙏 All I want to say is that we have a great team currently & our only focus is to win games & make the most out of #IPL2024 Thank you. @PunjabKingsIPL."
The rumors went viral on Thursday, claiming Preity said she would bet her life to get Rohit Sharma due to his experience and success as a leader for MI.
IPL 2024: Punjab Kings lose another cliffhanger to settle in 9th position
On Thursday, Punjab Kings met Mumbai Indians in Mullanpur. Batting first, Rohit Sharma (38) and Suryakumar Yadav (78) laid a strong platform for Mumbai. Thereafter, Tilak Varma (34*) contributed well to take MI's total to 192.
In response, Punjab were stuttering at 77/6 in the 10th over. Although Shashank Singh (41) and Ashutosh Sharma (61) were sensational with their efforts, the home team could not seal the chase and lost by nine runs. They have only two wins in seven league matches and are in ninth position in the table.