Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell disclosed that he was blocked by Virat Kohli on Instagram after mocking the Indian star during the 2017 Border-Gavaskar Trophy due to Kohli’s shoulder injury. The relationship between the two was tense until Maxwell joined the IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2021 for ₹14.25 crore.
Maxwell recounted, “When I knew 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.”
However, when Maxwell tried to follow Kohli on Instagram, he found that he had been blocked. “I go to his social media (to) follow him. Didn’t even think about it before that. Never really crossed my mind. I was like, ‘I can’t find him.’”
After being told by someone that he might have been blocked, Maxwell confirmed with Kohli, asking, “Have you blocked me on Instagram?” Kohli replied, “Yeah, probably. It was when you mocked me during that Test match. I think I got the sh*** and decided to block you.” Maxwell admitted, “I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s fair enough.’ So yeah, he (then) ended up unblocking me, and we became great friends after that.”
Reflecting on their evolving friendship, Maxwell noted, “We’ve had quite a funny relationship leading up to playing the IPL together. Sharing that dressing room and sharing experiences, becoming parents, I suppose, around the same time.”