'Spread love, stay at home' - Kings XI Punjab co-owner Preity Zinta's message to fans

Cricket fans around the world have been left dejected over the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The popular tournament was scheduled to kick off on March 29 but now, it has been deferred with a strict ban being imposed on travelling and socialising.

In the middle of the chaos, Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) co-owner Preity Zinta came up with a video on Twitter where she urged people to take precautionary measures to stop spreading the pandemic. In India, three lives have been lost so far while over 150 have been affected. The 45-year-old actress-entrepreneur started off her video saying people are not happy with the forced holidays but said the need of the time is to be responsible citizens.

“Please stay inside your house and wash your hands repeatedly. Secondly, don’t go outside because it is very infectious and it will affect a lot in the next 2 weeks when we will get to know about the cases that have come to India and the ones that have been detected,” Zinta was quoted saying in the video.

Preity Zinta appeals against allowing the healthcare system to get overwhelmed

“It is important that you stay at home, do not spread the virus, because our healthcare system will get overwhelmed with this. There are ventilators, emergency rooms in hospitals, they are for trauma patients, for long-term patients that have disease and issues. Don’t spread the virus, spread love, stay at home,” she added.

A lot has changed around us the past couple of days. Life on our planet has literally come to a STOP as “Coronavirus” spreads rapidly across the globe. Prevent the spread of this virus & protect yourself, family & your country. #CoronavirusOutbreak #COVID2019 #staysafe #ting pic.twitter.com/xK5ulotIAS

— Preity G Zinta (@realpreityzinta) March 17, 2020

The outbreak of the COVID-19 has left the cricketing world paralysed with series and tournaments getting cancelled mid-way. While the Australia-New Zealand ODI series was called off after one match, South Africa’s ODI series against India did not proceed at all after the first match was washed out. In Pakistan, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) remained inconclusive as the semi-finals and final were left to be played. England’s tour of Sri Lanka was affected besides the IPL.

The KXIP were supposed to play Delhi Capitals in Delhi in their first match of this season on March 30. Punjab have never won the title and finished as the finalists in the 2014 edition. This year, they made some changes and ace India batsman KL Rahul was supposed to lead them, replacing Ravichandran Ashwin who was the captain in the last two seasons.