The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a melting pot of top cricket talents from around the world. It is one cricket competition, where all top cricketers want to be part of. It also gives domestic cricketers the opportunity to learn from the best and share the same dressing room with the legends. Funny incidents also emerge from the league, some involving the team owners too. Sharing one such instance, Punjab Kings co-owner Preity Zinta said that she once had to make 120 aloo paranthas for her team during the 2009 IPL in South Africa, when the team was called Kings XI Punjab.
“Who would have thought Preity Zinta would make aloo parathas for her team? I think they have stopped eating all paratha after that,” the anchor asked Preity on Star Sports. Harbhajan SIngh, who was also standing there, started laughing.
“First time I realised, how much do the boys eat. We were in South Africa, and they served not a good all paratha. Then I told them, ‘I will teach you to make all paratha’. Seeing that, the boys asked if I can make all parathas for them. I told them that, will make aloo parathas if they win the next match. They won it. Then I made 120 aloo parathas. After that I have stopped making aloo parathas,” Preity replied.
On hearing that, Harbhajan Singh: “Irfan alone would have ate 20.”
Punjab Kings on Friday lost its IPL 2023 game against Lucknow Super Giants. Punjab Kings batting coach Wasim Jaffer has backed his team’s bowlers to make a strong comeback after the heavy loss against Lucknow Super Giants, adding that it “was one of those days when everything clicked for the opposition.” The likes of Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers, Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran pummelled the Punjab bowlers into submission as LSG piled up 257 for 5 — second highest total in IPL history– on Friday.
“Today was one of those days when everything clicked for the opposition and we were a bit clueless. Our bowlers will come back strong,” Jaffer said after his team’s 56-run loss.
“Our bowling couldn’t perform. They started off well in powerplay and just took off, they didn’t stop, every one played… Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran. When someone plays like this, it’s very difficult, they didn’t lose momentum after the powerplay. As I said, It was an off day for our bowling.” Punjab’s leading pacers Kagiso Rabada (2/52), Arshdeep Singh (1/54) and Sam Curran (1/38) conceded 144 runs between them across 11 overs.
The former India batter feels there is no need to press the panic button just yet. He, however, admitted that the bowlers could have approached the situation differently.
“It’s not a serious concern. Before this our bowling has defended in serious conditions against Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders. The bowling unit has performed better. Today was an off day.
“Maybe we could have used a Plan B, like using the slower balls a lot more and using the longer boundary consistently,” Jaffer said.
With PTI inputs
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