Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has recalled the time when star India batter Virat Kohli had blocked him from Instagram. While the two have become good friends after playing four seasons together at Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), there was a time when Kohli and Maxwell had their differences. For the unversed, RCB acquired the services of Maxwell for a whopping INR 14.25 crore ahead of IPL 2021. He enjoyed a successful season with the bat, scoring over 500 runs to help RCB reach the playoffs.
Maxwell and Kohli, alongside former RCB batter AB de Villiers, formed one of the most destructive partnerships in the history of the IPL. The camaraderie between Kohli and Maxwell was clearly visible. However, there was a time when their relationship was mostly frosty.
During a recent interaction, Maxwell recalled being blocked by Kohli on Instagram over an on-field exchange in 2017. Maxwell revealed that he tried to follow Kohli on Instagram but couldn’t find him. He later realised that the former India captain might’ve blocked him.
“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, follow him. Didn’t even think about it before that. Never really crossed my mind. I was like ‘I can’t find him,” Maxwell said on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
“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. 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.
Glenn Maxwell said, “I searched for Virat Kohli’s Instagram, but couldn’t find it when I joined RCB. I asked Virat, ‘have you blocked me?’ he was like, ‘yeah, probably. It was when you mocked me during the Test'”. (Espncricinfo). pic.twitter.com/vv860ygrqW
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“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,” Maxwell revealed.
With the IPL retention deadline approaching, Maxwell’s future at RCB remains an uncetainity. Maxwell was brutally roasted on social media after ending IPL 2024 season with just 52 runs under his belt. It seems that Maxwell might be on his way out of RCB, who are likely to retain England all-rounder Will Jacks instead.
