Punjab Kings' co-owner Preity Zinta took to her official X, formerly Twitter, account to put out a statement on a quote attributed to her, which circulated widely on social media over the past few days. In the quote, Zinta was shown to have said that she would bet her life to “bring Rohit Sharma” to Punjab Kings, and further make her the captain of the franchise. The quote became viral before Mumbai Indians' match against the PBKS on Friday.

Speaking on the “fake” quote, Zinta stated that she never discussed the MI great in any of her interviews, and that the viral quote also holds Shikhar Dhawan in poor regard, since he is the current captain of the Kings.

#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," wrote Zinta.

The PBKS co-owner further expressed her admiration for her players, and insisted the only focus for the Kings is to keep putting their best efforts in the remainder of IPL 2024.

“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,” Zinta added.

PBKS face narrow defeat

The Kings faced another heartbreaking defeat in IPL 2024 during the match against MI on Friday; after being reduced to 49/5 in the 193-run chase, Kings' hopes were reignited thanks to a brilliant batting effort from Ashutosh Sharma (61) and Shashank Singh (41). However, Ashutosh's dismissal in the 18th over all but ended the side's hopes, as it faced a final over defeat again, falling short by merely 9 runs.

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