Punjab Kings co-owner and Indian actress Preity Zinta, in a rendezvous with 22-year-old Cooper Connolly, asked the Australian all-rounder to chant, “Jai Bajrang Bali,” resulting in mixed online reactions.
Connolly, who is playing his first-ever Indian Premier League- 2026 (IPL), made an impressive debut, smashing a 44-ball 72, powering Punjab Kings to a three-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans on Tuesday.
Now, a video has come forth showing Zinta asking the young batsman to chant the religious slogan.
“You might be born Australian, but now you’re Punjabi by choice. We have the Punjabi spirit. Today is your first game, and it was played on a Tuesday. Tuesday is Hanumanji’s day, the Indian God of strength and power,” she says, and asks him to chant “Jai Bajrang Bali,” which he obliges.
“That means you’ll always be strong, powerful, and protected. That’s your welcome into Punjab Kings,” she explains
The video was posted by the IPL team on their Instagram account.
While some questioned X, who called out the actress for mixing sports with religion, others were all praise.
One user said, “In India road side chapri also force Christian’s and Muslims to do it, the is posh chapri sitting with their team and forcing them, it’s like lot of education books on a donkey.”
While another said, “Beautiful Every visitor coming to India should know about our Hindu religion because India is a Hindu country.”
One said, “How these so caller celebs of India, who we idolized whole childhood, turned out to be such low intellectual idiots? @realpreityzinta“
While another said, “A beautiful blend of cricket and culture”
One person said, “Cringey fake American accent aside, why is coked up Bollywood actress #PreityZinta forcing a Christian to chant Hindu slogans like #JaiBajrangBali?! Imagine if Hindu was forced to say Hallelujah on Television?! What’s with this cringe fest?!”
“So cringe … She’s a decent looking woman, so that’s a plus. At least she’s not the usual … unfortunates.
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