Glenn Maxsell revealed Virender Sehwag lost a fan in him |courtesy-BCCI/IPL
Glenn Maxwell's career in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been a story of ups and downs. While he produced one of the greatest individual seasons by a player in 2014 while playing for Punjab Kings (PBKS) and played couple of incredible innings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), there have been years where his performances have been disappointing, to say the least.
The majority of Maxwell's career in the IPL has been spent playing for PBKS (then called Kings XI Punjab) for whom he spent the entire 2014-17 cycle. In the final season of his first stint with the Punjab-based franchise, Maxwell captained the franchise at a time when Virender Sehwag was appointed director of cricket.
In an extract of his new Glenn Maxwell 'The Showman' published on EspnCricinfo, the Australian star revealed details of the relationship between the pair soured. The 2021 T20 World Cup winner revealed that Sehwag took the responsibility of making all decisions including the playing XI.
"These experiences combined to make 2017 a huge test for me. By now, I was earning plenty of money each season but that had little to do with my motivation - it was time to demonstrate to the world that 2014 wasn't a fluke, that I could boss the IPL again. The big boost I had on the way back into the Kings XI orbit was that Test century in Ranchi a few weeks before. I felt primed to go big.
"This time there was a twist. I was going to be captain, which Sehwag told me when we met during the Test series. We had played together, but now he had retired into what was described at the time as a "mentor" role. We discussed how the team would operate and I thought we were all on the same page .How wrong I was. Our coach, J Arunkumar, was coming in for his first season, and it became clear to him that he was coach in name only, with Sehwag pulling the strings. Winning papers over cracks, and as we got up in the first two games, the confusion behind the scenes was ignored. Privately, though, I had coaches and players coming to me asking what on earth was going on, and I found it difficult to give them a straight answer," wrote Maxwell.
"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, with the exception of 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.
"Take poor old Ishant Sharma. At one point he was told not to bother coming to our game that day in Mumbai, having not been picked in a while. We had several other local bowlers, plus the Kiwi quick Matt Henry had just come into the side. Doing the right thing, Ishant did a gym session and came along anyway, bowling at full pace in the warm-up. Then Eoin Morgan was told that he would be a new inclusion that day, taking the last overseas player spot from Matt. Morgs protested that it wasn't fair to drop Matt after only playing one game, so they rejigged again, left out Morgs, and both Henry and Ishant played," Maxwell added.
How Virender Sehwag Lost A Fan In Glenn Maxwell
However, it was during the latter half of the season the relationship completely soured after Sehwag blasted Maxwell in a post-match press conference. While as captain, Maxwell was supposed to address the media, the Indian cricket legend decided to take the responsibility. Maxwell revealed he told Sehwag that his remarks were hurtful.
"It was hard to figure out how the organisation was allowed to be run so erratically. The season came down to our final group game against Pune away from home, and we had a shocker batting first on a wet wicket, rolled for 73. It was all over. In the context of what was going on, I'm still quite proud of how we were able to broadly keep the show on the road until that stage. I was also happy with how I performed, doing the right thing as leader by giving myself the chance to influence games at the right time with bat and ball. Of course, we were all flat not to make the post-season, but it could have been so much worse, said Maxwell.
"I volunteered to do press that night, but Sehwag said he would instead. Upon getting onto the team bus, I found I'd been deleted from the main WhatsApp group. What was going on here? By the time we reached the hotel my phone was blowing up, with Sehwag having unloaded on me as a "big disappointment", blaming me for not taking responsibility as captain, and all the rest. It was unpleasant, especially when I thought we had parted on good terms.
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. Sehwag's response was simple: "Don't need fan like you." We never spoke again. I knew my time was at an end and told the owners as much: if Sehwag was going to stick around, they were making a mistake and not to bother with me. He only lasted one more season," Maxwell added.
Also Read: How A Whisper From Virat Kohli Turned Around Glenn Maxwell's Career And Inspired His 'Second Act As Player'
The 2017 season was one of Maxwell's best with the bat as he made 310 runs in 14 matches at an average of 31 and strike-rate of 173.18. The Australian star left the Punjab-based franchise after the 2017 season while Sehwag was removed from his role after the 2018 campaign.
Maxwell returned to the franchise in the 2020 season before joining Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in 2021.
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