Every season of IPL brings some controversy or the other. There are still a few months left for the new season to start and these days the only discussion is about player retention. Amidst all this, an old controversy of IPL has come to light, which has now been revealed. This dispute took place between Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and former Indian batsman Virender Sehwag, regarding which Maxwell has made a big claim. Maxwell has alleged that while playing for Punjab Kings in 2017, Sehwag suddenly removed him from the team and reprimanded him in the press conference. Maxwell has revealed this in his autobiography ‘Glenn Maxwell – The Showman’.
A large part of Maxwell’s new book has been released in the media, in which this controversy that took place in 2017 has been revealed. Maxwell was a part of Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) since 2014, where his performance in the beginning was excellent. In such a situation, he was made the captain of the team in IPL 2017. In the same season, former Punjab captain Virender Sehwag was appointed the team’s Director of Cricket. In that season, Punjab team was bundled out for just 73 runs in its last match against Rising Pune Super Giants and lost the match by 9 wickets. Due to this, the Punjab team missed the playoffs by just 2 points and stood at fifth position.
Sehwag removed from the group, reprimanded severely
While mentioning that match in the book, Maxwell has revealed that after the match, being the captain, he decided to go to the press conference and face the questions of the media. Maxwell has claimed that Sehwag stopped him and said that he would go for it himself. After this, what Maxwell has written in his book is more explosive. The Australian batsman has claimed that as soon as he boarded the team bus after the match, he came to know that he was removed from the team’s main WhatsApp group, which surprised him. Not only this, as soon as Maxwell reached the team hotel, he started receiving messages that Sehwag got angry at him in the press conference and accused him of not taking responsibility as a captain.
Gave such a reply to Maxwell’s message
Maxwell further writes in his book that this was shocking for him, due to which he was very unhappy because he felt that he had a good relationship with Sehwag. Disappointed Maxwell messaged Sehwag and told him that his statement was hurtful and Sehwag had lost one of his fans. According to Maxwell, Sehwag messaged in reply and wrote – ‘There is no need of a fan like you.’ There has been no talk between Maxwell and Sehwag since then. After this, Maxwell talked to the team owners and said that if Sehwag remains in the team then they should not worry about selecting him. Sehwag himself was dropped from the team after the next season.
Maxwell’s IPL career under question
The IPL career of Glenn Maxwell, who played an important role in Australia winning the ODI and T20 World Cups, has always been full of ups and downs and controversies. Maxwell has always received huge sums in the IPL auction but his performance has not been as per expectations. In the last 10-11 seasons, Maxwell has had only 2-3 seasons in which he has helped in winning matches with his explosive batting. In such a situation, he is always the target of critics and especially the former Indian cricketers have been continuously cursing him because of his performance.
