Islamabad, Oct 26: Glenn Maxwell has finally revealed his side of the story of the infamous fallout between him and Kings XI Punjab during the 2017 Indian Premier League season.
In his book “Glenn Maxwell: The Showman”, the Australian all-rounder opened up about a turbulent chapter in his IPL career with Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) and his tense relationship with Indian cricket icon Virender Sehwag.
During the 2017 season, Maxwell, the captain of the squad, found himself navigating both the pressures on the field and unexpected friction with Sehwag, the team’s influential mentor, who had started to play by his own rules.
Maxwell wrote,
When it came to selection, I thought it might be a good idea to bring the coaches into a WhatsApp group to make our decisions. Everyone agreed to this and shared their teams, except Sehwag. At the end of the process, he made it clear that he would pick the starting XI, end of story. We were losing on and off the field by now, with Sehwag on more than one occasion making decisions that didn’t necessarily make sense.
The Australian had joined the Punjab franchise in 2014 with a bang, racking up 552 runs and earning Player of the Tournament honors as he powered the team to its first IPL final.
That year, Maxwell and Sehwag seemed in sync, but by 2017, cracks were forming. As Maxwell and his side continued to struggle for a second straight season in 2017, the conflict between the two came to the fore after Punjab’s close loss to Rising Pune Supergiants which ended their season before Sehwag went on a tirade against his former teammate labeling him a “big disappointment.”
Maxwell also recounted how he was unceremoniously removed from team activities, pointing the blame at the former Indian international. He said,
“I texted him to say how much it hurt to read those comments and added that he had lost a fan in me for the way he had conducted himself, ” Maxwell wrote. “Sehwag’s response was simple: ‘Don’t need a fan like you.’ We never spoke again.”
Glenn Maxwell went on to represent Delhi Capitals next season before eventually finding a home alongside Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in Royal Challengers Bangalore whom he has represented for the past four seasons.
