Punjab Kings co-owner and Bollywood actress Preity Zinta reacted to the franchise shelling out an enormous ₹26.75 crore on Shreyas Iyer in the IPL 2025 auction that took place over two days in Jeddah. Zinta hilariously claimed that some amount is bound to be deducted by tax from his IPL salary as Jio Cinema shared a video of the same.

Shreyas, one of the marquee players in the auction, entered in the fray with a base price of ₹2 crore. Multiple franchises bid for him and the right-handed batter eventually surpassed Mitchell Starc, who fetched an amount of ₹24.75 from the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of IPL 2024. The Mumbai-born cricketer eventually went to the Punjab Kings. However, moments later, Rishabh Pant broke the record by fetching ₹27 crore from the Lucknow Super Giants.

When asked by a host whether she dreamt any player will command this sort of amount, the 49-year-old remarked:

"Well, hamesha aisa laga tha ki jo bhi IPL mein, it'll be record-breaking. Par 26 crore, yes socha tha (Sorry) 27 crore, Sorry Shreyas! Kuch toh tax mein katega." (It always felt like whatever happens in the IPL, will be record-breaking. But 26 crore, yes I sort of thought. Something will be deducted in tax.)