Feud with Preity Zinta to end alliance between Sehwag and Kings XI Punjab?

Bengaluru, May 11: Virender Sehwag has been a prominent face of Kings XI Punjab after joining the IPL franchise ahead of the 2014 season. The Delhi swashbuckler had also made a hundred for Kings XI in that season against Chennai Super Kings.

After Sehwag called it a day, he continued as the mentor of the team. But now, the association between Sehwag and Kings XI may come to an end at the end of the current IPL season. Reason: A verbal spat between Sehwag and Kings XI co-owner Preity Zinta.

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The feud between Sehwag and Zinta flared after Kings XI's defeat against Rajasthan Royals in their last match. Kings XI lost the match to Royals by 15 runs at Jaipur chasing 158. In that match, Ashwin came in at No 3 ahead of established batsmen like Karun Nair and Manoj Tiwary.

Ashwin, the Kings XI skipper, departed for a two-ball duck. The move did not go down well with Zinta who asked Sehwag for an explanation. Sehwag tried to reason out with Zinta but she was too upset with the defeat and continued the tirade against the former Indian batsman and blamed him for the defeat.

Upset over the entire episode, Sehwag later approached other Kings XI owners like Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman and asked them to keep Zinta under check or allow him to leave the franchise at the end of the season.

Sehwag also asked the owners to ask Zinta not to interfere in the cricketing matters of which he is in charge in the Kings XI set up. However, the Kings XI officials played it down as a routine interaction with team mentor and a co-owner.

"I have spoken with both Zinta and Sehwag. I found no issues between them and it was just a discussion of routine nature," said Burman.

Zinta denies

Meanwhile, Preity Zinta denied the entire episode through Twitter and blasted Mumbai Mirror, where the report first appeared, for blowing the episode out of proportions.

However, we have some interesting days ahead.