Maxwell reveals why Virat Kohli blocked him on Instagram

Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell (Pic: AFP)

Star Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell revealed that he was blocked by Team India's stalwart Virat Kohli for mocking his shoulder injury during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2017.

Maxwell opened up on this incident while speaking at the Willow Talk podcast.

Maxwell also said that later, Virat Kohli welcomed him well when he joined the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) camp during the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2021. He said that after having a chat with his then-skipper in training camp, he tried to find him on social media but could not find 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, to follow him. Did not even think about it before that. Never really crossed my mind. I was like 'I cannot find him'," said Maxwell.

Also Read: "Duck getting into the water": MSK Prasad on Virat Kohli's ability of adapting to Australian surfaces

Later, someone mentioned that Virat Kohli probably had blocked him and after asking him it was indeed the case. Maxwell was blocked by Virat Kohli on Instagram during the third Test match of the BGT for mocking shoulder injury in Ranchi.

"I am sure he is on social media somewhere so I did not think anything of it. Not really that maybe he was not savvy with Instagram. Did not really understand why he was not coming up and then someone mentioned that he might have blocked you. That is the only way you are not able to find him. I was like surely not," Glenn Maxwell 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 was like 'yeah, that's fair enough'. So yeah, he ended up unblocking me, and we became great friends after that," concluded Maxwell.

Since joining RCB, Maxwell has played 52 matches for the franchise, scoring 1,266 runs at an average of 28.77 and a strike rate of 159.25, having smashed 12 fifties for the side with the best score of 78. As the IPL retentions will be announced on Thursday, all eyes will be on RCB if Maxwell is retained by them.

(With ANI Inputs)