Yuvraj- Sangakkara rift news baseless: Preity Zinta

KXIP owner Preity Zinta has lashed out at media for false reporting against Yuvraj Singh.

Zeecric Bureau

New Delhi: Adding further fire to the reported rift between Yuvraj and Sangakkara, Shabnam Singh mother of Yuvraj Singh has lashed out against media for singularly picking her son for Kings XI Punjab’s poor performances. “I am shocked at the way things have turned out in media and I would clearly state that the news is false and baseless.” “Yuvraj never tried to change base to Mumbai Indians as he was locked with Kings XI for a period of three years. So how does that question arise?” “Speaking for performance alone, it is the whole team which is going through a bad phase not just Yuvraj,” she further added. Coming to Yuvraj Singh’s rescue was also Kings XI Punjab owner Preity Zinta. “ All the reports of Yuvraj –Sangakkara rift is pure media speculation and I have no further comments on the issue.” Earlier, an angry and ‘disguted’ Yuvraj Singh hit back Friday at media reports about him wanting to leave his team, Kings XI Punjab and said that ‘no player underperforms at will.’ Terming the report published in a news daily as false, Yuvi said, “I am disgusted and horrified. I have never seen such a disgusting piece of news in my life.” As per the report, the swashbuckling all-rounder had been at loggerheads with the team’s co-owner Ness Wadia since the time it was announced that the Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara would replace him as the KXIP skipper. It was also said that he tried at length to move to Mumbai Indians after the incident, but the team’s ‘financial clout may have led to a few bruised egos’. The news daily also said that Wadia went to the BCCI stating concerns about Yuvi discontent and that the Chandigarh lad may under-perform during the tournament to show his displeasure. A livid Yuvraj reacted by saying that all these reports were fallacious and that ‘the media has no right to fabricate such stories’. Yuvraj said that his poor performance during the on-going IPL 3, where he scored just 101 runs from seven games at an average of 14.42, has nothing to do with any rift within the team and that no player would perform badly at will. “No player underperforms at will. I have been through injuries and it is not easy to get out of it,” he added. Earlier, reports of rift in the team were also denied by Sangakkara, who said, “Of course there is a lot of disappointment when the team is not winning and the key players are not putting up their best performance. But there is no anger, never any direct criticism of any particular player or any personnel.”Dismissing reports that he and Yuvraj were not on best of terms and that it was affecting the team morale, the Sri Lankan said, “You saw the warm up game we had. All the local, domestic, Indian and international players got on so well together. I believe that`s the way cricket is. When you lose everyone opens themselves up to criticism, some fair and some unfair.” Sangakkara threw his weight behind out of form Yuvraj and said such bad patch was common for a cricketer. “If you take any player, good or bad, some days they perform, some days they don’t. Unfortunately, Yuvraj’s preparation had been hampered by injury. In this competition, it`s like a pressure cooker atmosphere. There is no let off, no time for rest and you have one game coming after the other,” explained Sangakkara. “Yuvraj is one of the best T20 batsmen in the world. Over the years, he has proved it with his performance. He is one player who is expected to perform every single game,” said the Lankan.