Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell reveals that the Indian cricketer Virat Kohli blocked him on Instagram after a strained relationship due to a bizarre incident during the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) in 2017.
Ever since Maxwell has been acquired by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) for INR 14.5 crores, he has been sharing a great bonding with Kohli both on and off-field.
In a recent conversation, the 36-year-old Aussie cricketer shared an astonishing story dating back to his initial discussions with the RCB captain at that time during the pre-IPL training sessions. He said that he wasn’t able to find Kohli’s Instagram account in an attempt to follow him on social media.
Did Virat Kohli Block Glenn Maxwell on Instagram?
YES! Glenn Maxwell discloses the fact that Virat Kohli blocked him on Instagram for imitating his shoulder injury back in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2017 held in India.
The Virat Kohli vs Glenn Maxwell controversy occurred when Australia toured India for the 4-match test series. During the third test of the BGT 2017 series in Ranchi, Virat Kohli sustained an injury on his right shoulder during a courageous dive to save the ball moving towards the boundary. In the same test match, Glenn Maxwell was spotted clutching his right shoulder.
Later during the Test, Maxwell mocked Kohli’s gesture and clutched his right shoulder while chasing down the ball on the same part of the ground. However, Virat Kohli was disappointed with Glenn Maxwell’s actions and decided to go for the ‘block’ option on Instagram.
Glenn Maxwell About Virat Kohli Blocking him on Instagram
During the Willow Talk podcast on LiSTNR Sport, Glenn Maxwell said that when he joined the team, Virat Kohli was the first person to welcome him. Later when Maxwell decided to follow on Instagram, he found out that the RCB captain had blocked him:
“Yeah! When I came to know that I was joining RCB, Virat was the first player in the team to message and welcome me to the squad. But, when I signed up for the pre-IPL training camp, we spent a bit of time training together and got a chance to chat with each other. So, I decided to take a look at his social media account to follow him. Before that, I didn’t even think about it and such an idea never crossed my mind.
At that moment, it was like I wasn’t able to find him, and I was sure that he was on social media somewhere. So, I didn’t think anything of it. I assumed that he wasn’t Instagram-savvy. But, I didn’t understand why he didn’t open up anything about this matter. Finally, someone told me that he might have blocked me and that was the only way I wasn’t able to find him. I was surprised and thought that he wouldn’t surely do it”, Glenn Maxwell said.
Glenn Maxwell vs Virat Kohli Issue Solved
Later Glenn Maxwell spoke about the issue with Virat Kohli and found that the RCB skipper blocked him on Instagram due to the incident that took place in BGT 2017:
“Exactly! I went and asked him ‘Have you ever blocked me on Instagram?’ And Kohli replied ‘Yes! Maybe I could have done it when you made fun of me during the test match. I think I got fed up with the sh** and chose to block you.’ I said ‘Yeah! I think it was fair enough.’ Finally, he unblocked me and we became good friends later on.
It was a good and short memorable story, but we maintained a funny relationship by playing IPL matches together, sharing the same dressing room and valuable experiences, and becoming parents, I believe around the same time.
Those were the days when we both were young and confident by going ferociously against each other on the field. We were competitive and passionate about facing off against each other and played an important role in encouraging the team members,” Maxwell revealed a few more facts.
Overall Opinion:
After joining RCB, Kohli unblocked Maxwell from Instagram and pushed the previous issues aside. The experienced duo cricketers have become best friends both on and off the field after spending hours and hours together at the training sessions.
Except for the IPL 2024 season, Maxwell has never disappointed Kohli with his performance by scoring 513 runs in 2021, 310 runs in 2022, and 400 runs in the 2023 editions of the IPL for RCB.
Finally, Glenn Maxwell’s story explains how the Indian Premier League has changed rivalries at the international level into friendships by sharing experiences and mutual respect playing together in the same team.