Preity Zinta, co-owner of Punjab Kings, was left furious after a morphed image of her with an IPL player went viral on social media. What surprised the actor was that the image was used by several news portals. “This is a morphed image and fake news. Am so surprised now news channels are also using morphed images and featuring them as news items!” Preity Zinta posted on X while commenting on another post. While that post was deleted, several social media users pointed that the image Preity was referring to was that of her hugging Rajasthan Royals player Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
This is a morphed image and fake news. Am so surprised now news channels are also using morphed images and featuring them as news items !
— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) May 20, 2025
While Suryavanshi met Preity Zinta after an IPL 2025 match, they never hugged. The video of their meeting was posted by RR.
Flex levels at school: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi pic.twitter.com/IhGvZKzL3R
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 19, 2025
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ANALYSIS: FakeFACT: Digitally manipulated images allegedly showing cricketer Vaibhav Suryavanshi hugging Bollywood actress Preity Zinta are being circulated on social media, with many users and media outlets falsely claiming them to be authentic. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/OpIZZ2ImEr
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) May 20, 2025
Suryavanshi has been one of the brightest talents to emerge in the IPL 2025. RR head coach Rahul Dravid hopes that the young Indian players in the Rajasthan Royals’ ranks will soon get the opportunity to play “tough international cricket,” which in turn will help them return stronger for the next IPL season. The Royals crashed to their fifth successive defeat when they went down against Punjab Kings by 10 runs here on Sunday.
“We’ve seen some abilities. Even today, the batting that Jaiswal did, Vaibhav did, Dhruv Jurel did. There’s a lot of Sanju, Riyan today. We have a lot of young, good Indian batsmen. They’ll be even better in a year,” Dravid said in the post match press conference.
Dravid then expanded his thoughts on how the young names in the Royals’ ranks can perform better a year down the road.
“Vaibhav (Suryavanshi) will play a lot of cricket like India U19. Riyan Parag will also play a lot of cricket. So, I think all these players will play a lot of cricket for India throughout the year — tough cricket, international cricket.
“So, hopefully when they come back here next year, they will be more experienced. They are already very talented players,” he added.
Dravid felt that the Rajasthan bowlers and batters have not been able to apply finishing touches to the job, leading to the team’s dismal show this season.
With PTI inputs
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