Last Updated:
Maxwell shares a good bond with Virat Kohli, who also played a big role in RCB going after the Australian all-rounder in the IPL 2021 auction.
Glenn Maxwell reveals why Virat Kohli blocked him in Instagram. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell shares a great bond with Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli. The duo has shared dressing rooms together for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the last four seasons of the Indian Premier League. Kohli played a big role in RCB’s going after Maxwell in the IPL 2021 auction despite his struggles with the Punjab Kings in the 2020 edition of the cash-rich league.
RCB splashed out Rs 14.25 crore to acquire Maxwell’s services, and the Australian all-rounder lived up to the billing by amassing a total of 513 runs in 15 matches for RCB that year. He was retained by RCB ahead of IPL 2022 mega auctions and overall has scored 1266 runs in 52 matches for the franchise.
In the last four years, Maxwell has developed a very good friendship with Kohli, but it was not the case before that, and in fact, the former Indian captain had blocked him on Instagram after Maxwell made fun of Kohli’s injury.
In a recent podcast with LiSTNR Sport, Maxwell said, “When I knew that I was going to RCB, Virat was the first guy to message me and welcome me to the team. When I turned up for the pre-IPL training camp, we obviously got chatting and spent a fair bit of time training together as you do. So, I go to his social media to follow him. I didn’t even think about it before that. Never really crossed my mind. I was like, ‘I can’t find him.”
“I’m sure he’s on social media somewhere, so I didn’t think anything of it. Not really that; maybe he wasn’t savvy with Instagram. I didn’t really understand why he wasn’t coming up, and then someone mentioned that he might have blocked you. That is the only way you’re not able to find him. I was like, surely not,” he added.
“Then I went and asked him, ‘Have you blocked me on Instagram?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, probably. It was when you mocked me during that Test match. I think I got the sh*** and decided to block you. I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fair enough.’ So yeah, he ended up unblocking me, and we became great friends after that,” added Maxwell.
The mocking incident that led Kohli to block Maxwell on the popular photo and video sharing platform took place on the third day of the third Test between India and Australia in Ranchi 2017. Kohli sustained a shoulder injury while fielding on Day 1 of that match, and two days later, when Australia was batting, Maxwell made light of Kohli’s injury by mimicking him as he held his right shoulder. Kohli was not pleased with Maxwell’s actions and decided to take the step.
