Preity Zinta made Yuvraj, Lee laugh with 'thicker than suit' jerseys in 2008: Ex-KXIP CEO

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) was one of the original eight franchises that launched the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008. However, the franchise did not have the perfect start in terms of preparing themselves for the campaign, according to KXIP’s former CEO Neil Maxwell, who is more renowned in Australian cricket as a top players' agent. Maxwell recently recalled an incident from IPL 2008 when co-owner Preity Zinta decided to take charge of providing jerseys to her players.

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KXIP Ex-CEO recalls IPL 2008 when Preity Zinta left Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara in splits

Neil Maxwell recently appeared and talked on the Top Order Podcast. In the podcast, Maxwell described Preity Zinta as one of the more intelligent owners who was able to learn quickly about the operations of a cricket team before the IPL 2008. However, he also admitted that there was a lot of “naivety” at the time among franchise owners.

He revealed that while most IPL franchises were getting their kits prepared by top brands, KXIP co-owner Preity Zinta decided to take the matter into her own hands just two weeks prior to the competition. Maxwell recalled that she had already sent someone to Taiwan and a prototype was due to arrive in seven days.

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He further stated that Preity Zinta was very excited to show the kits to the players when it finally arrived. He revealed that when senior members like Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara and Brett Lee returned from training to see the prototype, they were left laughing at the jerseys. According to the KXIP ex-CEO, the jerseys were ‘thicker than a suit’ and they reminded him of Michael Jackson’s red leather jacket from the music video Thriller.

Neil Maxwell recalled that Preity Zinta was very “proud” before pulling those shirts out of her bag and she felt insulted upon seeing Yuvraj Singh and others laughing at it. He remembered Brett Lee sarcastically saying that the kits are fine and he just have to work out how to get his arm over to bowl in it. According to Maxwell, Preity Zinta threw the jerseys on the ground and stormed off and the team sorted out their new uniforms in the remaining four-five days they had.  

KXIP in the IPL 2020

The IPL 2020 was intended to launch on March 29 while KXIP were scheduled to open their campaign on March 30 with a match against Delhi Capitals. However, the ongoing coronavirus crisis and India lockdown prompted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to postpone the IPL 2020 until further notice. Quite recently, several reports indicate that the BCCI is taking several measures to conduct the IPL 2020 sometime later this year.

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