It was the 2014 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when the Punjab Kings last qualified for the playoffs of the event, and that happened on the back of the cracking season of Glenn Maxwell, who smashed 552 runs in 16 innings at an average of 34.50 and a strike rate of around 190, with the help of four half-centuries at a best score of 95.
The Punjab Kings topped the league stage of the competition but lost the final to the Kolkata Knight Riders despite putting 199 in the first innings, as Glenn Maxwell was named the ‘Player of the Tournament’. The next season found the franchise finishing at the bottom before the former Indian captain and member of the side, Virender Sehwag, joined them as the mentor in 2016.
In his newly published book, The Showman, the veteran Australian all-rounder alleged that the Indian team’s opening batter made the decisions he did when it came to picking the playing eleven.
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“I was going to be captain, which Sehwag told me when we met during the Test series (Australia’s India tour of 2016-17). We had played together, but now he had retired into what was described as a “mentor” role. We discussed how the team would operate, and I thought we were all on the same page.” Glenn Maxwell wrote, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo while writing the book.
The Victoria batter didn’t enjoy a great time that season, with just 179 runs in 11 innings at an average of below 20 and a strike rate of 144.35, with just two half-centuries.
“Don’t need a fan like you!!”- Virender Sehwag replied to Glenn Maxwell in a WhatsApp chat
The all-rounder looked back at how their coach, J Arun Kumar, didn’t have anything to say about the environment, and it was Sehwag who was running the system, even from the mentor position.
“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.” Glenn Maxwell addressed.
The former captain of the franchise wanted to create a WhatsApp group consisting of the coaches, which would have helped them in the smooth transition in the decision-making process, but Sehwag was in no mood for the idea.
“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, except Sehwag.” Glenn Maxwell cracked the whole story in his book. “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.”
Things went out of their control, as the Kings were bundled out for just 73 against Rising Pune Supergiants and were knocked out of the competition. But it was Sehwag again, who addressed the media, which was supposed to be done by Maxwell.
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“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.” Glenn Maxwell added.
When the 36-year-old later reached out to the former Indian opener and noted how the latter had lost a fan in him, Sehwag refused to have someone like Maxwell as his fan. A season later, the franchise parted ways with the Delhi-born.