Preity Zinta enjoys Kings XI Punjab's new-found success

SHARJAH: Two spectacular chases, both against strong opponents, have ensured Kings XI Punjab their best start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in seven years and marked them out as strong contenders for the title this season.
Hiring Sanjay Bangar as coach, buying the right set of players at the auction, investing in young domestic talent and providing the team with a good support staff have been some of the better things that Punjab have accomplished this year.The team's co-owner Preity Zinta, who always worked up a smile even when things weren't going her team's way the last few years, just can't hide her joy.
"Fingers crossed, I'm looking forward to a good tournament," she told TOI. "All the stakeholders in Kings XI Punjab - the team owners, players, coaches and support staff, sponsors, fans - have stood by us through good and bad times. To whatever extent we succeed, it's for all of them."
Preity, along with the rest of the co-owners, gives all the credit to Sanjay Bangar for his understated contribution. "Getting him on board is the best thing that could happen to us. He is a man of very few words but his contribution has been immense. All credit to him. He's a very humble man and the players like him very much," she says.
Pointing out how, in the last so many years, 2014 has been the first time that Kings XI Punjab have started an IPL season on a strong note, Preity says, "It was only in 2013 that things began to get normal for the franchise. The first two years of IPL was about understanding how to go about the whole thing, but in 2010 all the wrong kind of things started to happen and we were dealing with court cases. There were issues with the BCCI and it was a very difficult phase. When you get into these things, it's not easy at all."
In 2010, Kings XI Punjab and the Rajasthan Royals franchises were terminated by the BCCI for 'not disclosing their internal shareholding pattern', following which a court battle and arbitrations ensued and both the teams were reinstated. "It becomes very difficult when you have to pay Rs 100 crore bank guarantees and it's not just cricket playing on your mind," says Preity.
She's glad it's all over now and cricket has become priority. "Everything went back to normal in 2013 and this is the first time we began with a level-playing field, like everybody else. Our ownership pattern was questioned, questions were asked about my stake in the franchise. All the details were enquired into, and they all turned out to be fine," she says, talking about those troubled days. "We need to thank the judicial system for that."
In 2008, when the consortium - also involving businessmen Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman - bought the Kings XI Punjab franchise, they had a very good team at their disposal, says Preity. "We weren't even allowed to retain the players we wanted. There were insinuations at all times about how we had done something wrong. I was linked with cricketers. It was all very sad."
Preity certainly has not forgotten how "a hug or a handshake with players always ended up with people talking all kinds of nonsense" about her links to cricketers. "It was always rubbed in that I was a woman. 'Oh so she hugged, she must have done something more.' I was always reminded about being a woman in a male-dominated game and I could only blame the media for that," she says.