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The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has witnessed some intense moments over the years. While the Indian Premier League (IPL) has led to more friendly interactions when they meet each other, the environment changes when the players represent their nation. When Glenn Maxwell joined Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), he wanted to follow Virat Kohli on Instagram but couldn’t. Then he got to know that Kohli may blocked him on social media.
"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, follow him. Didn't even think about it before that. Never really crossed my mind. I was like 'I can’t find him," Maxwell said on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
"I'm sure he's on social media somewhere so I didn't think anything of it. Not really that maybe he wasn't savvy with Instagram. Didn't really understand why he wasn't coming up and then someone mentioned that he might have blocked you. That is the only way you’re not able to find him. I was like surely not."
The reason behind blocking Maxwell
When Maxwell asked Kohli whether he has blocked him on Instagram, the former RCB captain revealed that he may have done it when he mocked his shoulder injury during Ranchi Test. Kohli had injured his shoulder while fielding and missed the fourth and final Test of the series in Dharamsala.
"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 think I got the sh*** and decided to block you. I was like 'yeah, that's fair enough'. So yeah, he ended up unblocking me, and we became great friends after that," added Maxwell.
How Maxwell and Kohli changed over the years
However, over the years, the animosity between the two disappeared. He recalled being asked to sledge Kohli.
"It was a nice little story to have as a little side note but 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. From the days we were both young and brash and going hard at each other on the field. We were in the front and centre of all that as well, sort of being the orchestrator like 'Maxi, get into his face. Say some words to him and get the young guy to do the hard work'.".
Maxwell unlikely to be retained after poor season
While it is a given that RCB will retain Kohli, there are reports that they Maxwell will not make it to the retention list. In the previous season, Maxwell struggled to score and even asked to be dropped in order to make way for Will Jacks. He managed to score just 52 runs from nine innings with a high score of 28 and a string of low scores.
