Being linked with Yuvi, Brett Lee was upsetting, says Preiti Zinta

KOLKATA: Bollywood actress and Indian Premier League (IPL) team owner Preiti Zinta says she was upset over being linked to cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Brett Lee a few years ago.

“I will never forget the incidents when I was linked with Yuvraj Singh and Brett Lee,” Zinta told The Times of India in her first interaction with the media after getting married.

“They are like my brothers, these link-ups have upset me a lot,” said the IPL team Kings XI Punjab owner, now married to an American businessman and settled in Los Angeles.

Both Lee and Yuvraj played for Kings XI for the first three years and helped the team finish in the top four in the inaugural edition.

The Australian was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for the fourth edition and “Yuvi” by the now-dissolved Pune Warriors in 2011, owned by former India team sponsors Sahara group.

General elections in India forced the IPL administrators to stage the league in South Africa in 2010, the final year of the duo’s stay in Kings XI; the rumours began flying during this chapter of IPL.

Gossip columnists had a field day, and one blogger going by the name of Malini Spize posted photographs of Zinta hugging various players of her team after various victories.

The photos sported suggestive captions, with one saying: “Climbed on Yuvraj Singh – no wonder Yuvi misses Zinta, what a way to motivate he performed the worst.”

In a blog awash with innuendoes, Malini Spize wrote without any substantiation: “Link-ups, live-ins, affairs, dates, alleged marriage break-ups...she has been there for it all; Preiti Zinta has had her hands full.”

Referring to those days, Zinta told The Times she was surprised that so much was written about her life without any confirmation from her. “There are a few things that I have taken to heart,” she said.

Asked what those were, the actress specifically mentioned being linked with the two cricketers upset her the most, something she “would never forget”.

So much so, she said she visited the two with rakhis – a decorative thread that Hindu girls tie on the wrists of their brothers during the festival of Raskha Bandan in a symbolic wish for their prosperity.

“Not just one, two or three but maybe four rakhis,” Zinta said.

On being told Yuvraj is engaged to model-actor Hazel Keech, Zinta asked the interviewer if he knew what the wedding date was.

“I am asking because I need to have a box of special shaadi (wedding) present for him – a box of rakhis. For Yuvi I will always have a soft spot.”

— Anik Basu is a Kolkata-based journalist contributing for Geo.tv

(Photo: Reuters/File)