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In his book, Glenn Maxwell details how his relationship with the then KXIP mentor Virender Sehwag soured.
Virender Sehwag (left) and Glenn Maxwell during IPL 2014. (BCCI Photo)
IPL 2014 was the last time that Punjab Kings (then known as Kings XI Punjab) last qualified for the playoffs/final. It was the first and only season that KXIP would make it to the final of an IPL, a performance powered by Glenn Maxwell’s stunning run that saw him rack up 552 runs and Sandeep Sharma’s incisive bowling which resulted in 18 wickets.
KXIP topped the league stage with 11 wins from 14 matches but lost in the final to Kolkata Knight Riders despite setting a target of 200 runs. Maxwell consoled himself with player-of-the-tournament award.
KXIP were aiming for the skies. However, the in the next season, they finished last in the standings, a result that brought them crashing back to earth after the high of 2014.
India batting legend Virender Sehwag, who had represented them as player in 2014 and 2015, retired and was named as their team mentor in 2016. They finished with another wooden spoon.
KXIP then appointed Maxwell as their captain for IPL 2017 but in his upcoming book ‘The Showman’, he alleges that Sehwag made unilateral decisions when it came to picking the playing XIs.
“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 at the time as a “mentor” role. We discussed how the team would operate and I thought we were all on the same page,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Maxwell as writing in the book.
Maxwell claims that the then KXIP coach J Arunkumar didn’t have much say and it was Sehwag who was “pulling the strings” instead.
“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,” Maxwell writes.
Maxwell, who now represents Royal Challengers Bengaluru, further says that Sehwag’s decision didn’t make much sense and at one point.
Maxwell says he wanted to create a WhatsApp group that included the coaches to streamline the decision-making process, but Sehwag opposed 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, 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,” Maxwell wrote.
Things came to a head when KXIP were bundled out for 73 against the now defunct Rising Pune Supergiant, a defeat that knocked them out of the tournament.
Sehwag helmed the press conference after the match which Maxwell says he initially volunteered to address.
“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,” Maxwell wrote.
A “hurt” Maxwell texted Sehwag that he’s lost a fan in him.
“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 said.
