IPL 2018: Preity Zinta all smiles following KL Rahul and Andrew Tye dominance

Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta tweeted on Wednesday that the team’s star player KL Rahul is her reason to smile, and she has very good grounds to say so. Preity’s team had an exceptionally well IPL in 2018 and has remained among the top 4 for a while now. Unless something goes terribly wrong, KXIP has their berths to the playoffs almost booked. Adding to that, both the orange and purple caps are with the Kings, thus giving the team owner all the more reasons to smile.

After the 40th match of Vivo IPL on Tuesday, opener and wicketkeeper KL Rahul was announced to be the new Orange cap holder, thanks to his knock of 95 from 70 balls. This is his highest score in the IPL, and in total, he now has 471 runs this year from 10 innings, at a strike rate of 156.47.

Along with the record of fastest fifty ever, Rahul could have also slammed his maiden IPL century as well. But the overs fell short, and so did his team of 15 runs from the target of 158 set by RR.

However, losing Tuesday’s match did not make much difference to KXIP’s current standing in the league table. They are seated at number 3 position, with 12 points from 10 matches. Even though they would want to finish the league in the top two, right now they seem to be doing fine.

Zinta’s reason to smile

Preity Zinta was visibly cheerful in the stadium and was seen clicking selfies with the boys after the match, which she later posted on her social media accounts. For the run-machine KL Rahul, she had something very nice to say: “My reason to smile! So proud of @klrahul11! Keep smiling & Keep shining.”

My reason to smile ! So proud of @klrahul11 ! Keep smiling & Keep shining ??? @lionsdenkxip #orangecap #vivoipl2018 #Excellence #Consistancy #Class #aboutlastnight #Redforever #livepunjabiplaypunjabi #RRvsKXIP #vivoipl2018 pic.twitter.com/SvQUIwsBHs

— Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) May 9, 2018

KL Rahul was one of the most expensive players in this year’s auction, picked up by Rajasthan Royals at a whopping 11 crores. The other two top buys, Manish Pandey, also 11 crores and Ben Stokes, 12.50 crores could not put up much of an impressive show on the field. But Rahul, on the other hand, has been nothing but consistently effective right at the top of the order, and also behind the stumps.

She also uploaded pictures with Andrew Tye, who happens to be the Purple cap holder, and young Afghanistani cricketer Mujeeb Zadran, who is following close behind. Preity showed solidarity with Tye, as both of them lost their grandmothers this week. Tye decided to play the match anyway, and also took 4 wickets.

Andrew Tye steals the purple cap

What an emotional weekend. We both lose our grandma’s ?still there is a reason to Smile as the super talented @aj191 is rewarded with the #Purplecap #Rip #Grandma #Nani #RRvsKXIP #Bittersweet #Strength #Emotional #Excellence #vivoipl2018 #aboutlastnight @lionsdenkxip #Redforever pic.twitter.com/avWhx9CNLy

— Preity zinta (@realpreityzinta) May 9, 2018

Next Kings XI Punjab will be playing Kolkata Knight Riders, who lost their last match against suddenly resurrecting Mumbai Indians, on May 12, Saturday.

Stay updated on ‘today’s cricket news‘ with CricTracker.com