After Punjab's thrashing by Pune Warriors, Preity is not disappointed. Success and failure are part of the game.
"I am an eternal optimist and I hope there will be a turnaround," said the formidable actress, hailed as a 'tragedy queen' and 'the empress of stormy emotion'.
It was ironical that Punjab lost to Pune, a side captained by Punjab's former skipper, Yuvraj ! Then Yuvraj was not in form ( maybe that is why he was not retained by Punjab ) and Yuvraj created the greatest turnaround for a cricket player, when he, who was sadly out of form last year, became the Man of the Tournament in the WC 2011 ! This proved the adage " Class is permanent, form is only temporary ". The best scorers of the WC Final were not in form, Mahela, Gambhir and Dhoni and world class players can any day recover their form !
Preity is confidend that Punjab will flourish under the 39 year old Gilchrist.
"I am happy with what we've got. We don't have big stars in the team. I think Gilly (Gilchrist) is a good captain, a good team leader, who led his team in winning the title (as Deccan Chargers skipper)," said pretty, pretty, Preity.
Life is strife, she said, and the Kings IX can surmount all obstacles. It is also true that Yuvraj, Sanga and Mahela were not retained. Incidentally all these three are captains of different teams now !
Preity joked about the immense contribution of Punjab to IPL.
"KXIP has already given three captains to IPL. Sangakkara is leading Deccan, Mahela the Kochi team while Yuvi is Warriors' skipper," said the actress, who has the ability to make people cry and laugh !
Punjab has to overcome some jinx - as even with these players, Punjab's performance was below par ! Like the jinx of DC losing all matches in Hyderabad, their home ground !
The team's punchline is " Live Punjabi, play Punjabi" and the fans are hoping that some Punjab players are included in the playing eleven on Wed. No Punjabi player played in the Sun match !
Punjab is trying to increase their fanbase. Their website, http://www.kxip.in/, has already 100,000 registered users !
Arvinder Singh, Chief Officiating Officer of Kings XI, said "On the marketing front, we have a lot of initiatives and many interactions lined up for the fans. We are happy to announce that registered data base of fans on our website has crossed 100,000 which is a landmark in itself."
"We have so many activities for our fans besides ticketing. We have live chats, blogs, interactive sessions with players and co-owner Preity Zinta. All updates will be available on our website. We are also planning to introduce the facility of live video chats on the website."
"Our team is all about the spirit of Punjab. There are many initiatives like 'homecoming' an opportunity to meet and greet players in their hometowns in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and flying catch contest for the fans," said Singh.
"We will run a campaign called 'paint the town red' and a contest 'Rocky Ranjit ki Khoj', a search for the voices for our mascots has been arranged," he added.
The Punjab skipper, Gilchrist, is also excited about the fanbase.
"This is really exciting time for us and I am looking forward to good support from local fans. Our team wants to develop strong bond and relationship with our fans," said the great blaster.
The fans still support Kings XI, even after local hero Yuvraj's exit.
"We already have many fans on our website and I expect huge number of them to come to the stadium to watch the entertaining cricket." said the master wicket keeper batsman.
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