From playing the lead in Bollywood films to owning a cricket team, Preity Zinta does everything Dil Se. And make no mistake, she is on the ball when it comes to the Indian Premier League (IPL) in general and her King’s XI Punjab in particular. t2 caught up with the dimpled darling at the launch of her team on her home turf — the Punjab Cricket Association stadium in Mohali...

What happened to Preity Zinta the actress?

Oh, she is around (smiles). Right now, I’m treating IPL like my next film. I’m giving it the next three months of my life... till the first season gets over. After that it’s back to films.

Why did you delay the launch of the team?

The most important part of the team for me is the person who drives the team. And for us that person is our coach Tom Moody. We did not want to announce the team or launch King’s XI Punjab without him. Now that Tom Moody is in India, we have launched the team.

Why are you calling the team King’s XI Punjab?

Do you want me to be really honest (smiles)? We had an SMS contest running in Chandigarh for people to decide the name of the team. We got all sorts of names. Most of the entries had the word Maharaja and all…

Why not Maharaja? Because that’s Sourav Ganguly’s nickname?

Is it? I didn’t know that (smiles). We didn’t have Maharaja in the team name because it kind of sounds old. Nothing to do with Ganguly! We also got a lot of entries having the name Manjeet Dhoni, who is a player from this area. Now we couldn’t possibly have that either. So we decided on King’s XI Punjab.

But then Shah Rukh, the owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, is the King Khan…

It’s not King’s XI, it’s King’s XI Punjab! The Punjab has to be there every time (smiles). Punjab was a must. We kept the XI bit because 11 of the elite players will walk out on the field. We not only have the youngest team, we also have the largest team. We have the maximum number of players in the squad amongst all eight teams. So the best 11 will play the

matches.

What about the song?

We wanted a song that was inspirational and talked about the spirit of Punjab. And Punjab is not about just doing the job. Punjab is about doing the job and having fun at the same time (smiles). And I think Daler Mehndi has done a great job.

Why have you associated yourself with cricket? Is it entirely a business move or is there any other game plan?

You know there are lots of parents who do not let their children go into sports. They feel if they go into sports professionally there’s no future for their children. So today if money is coming into a sport, why not? Cricket is the first sport and it will help further every other sport in the country. I want a day to come when parents tell their children I am so happy that you are taking up sports as a career.

Do you think women will take to the IPL matches as you have taken to the game?

Absolutely! I used to just look at the scores at the end of the day. Now with Twenty20, I can watch the full game. For the matches at Mohali, we are having special galleries for family crowds. So that they can watch the match peacefully. And we are also having student tickets for Rs 50. It’s just one dollar! Who else will give you that? I want our team to be the people’s team, full of hosh and josh...

Another of your colleagues Akshay Kumar has become the brand ambassador of Delhi Daredevils...

To each his own. If a team wants to go ahead and have a brand ambassador I would say it’s great. But personally I feel when we have such rocking cricketers in our team, we don’t need brand ambassadors. They are our brand. And our brand is here. No offence to anybody… Akshay is a dear friend of mine. This is completely team strategy and depends entirely on the owners. And I would love to have Akshay here. But eventually jo chhey run marega woh itthe baitha hai, jo wicket lega woh itthe baitha hai… I am very, very proud of the team we have and there is no place for any other boy (smiles).