Picture Credit: Cricket Australia
Even before the mini-auction for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in February, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) captain Virat Kohli had decided to have Australia’s big-hitting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell in his side. Recently, in a video shared by the franchise’s official Twitter account, Maxwell revealed how Kohli had discussed the idea with him in December last year when India toured Australia for the series across formats.
Glenn Maxwell has shared that Virat Kohli had said to him that RCB would love to have him but he also stressed the uncertainty of the auction at that time, although it took place in February 2021. Notably, during the auction, three-time IPL title winner Chennai Super Kings (CSK) too bid for him along with RCB but the latter succeeded to fetch the all-rounder for a whopping price of Rs 14.25 crore.
"We had been texting a fair bit. We obviously caught up. We chatted after the ODI and T20I series in Australia. He talked to me about potentially playing for RCB. If I got the opportunity, he said 'we would love to have you'. But obviously, there was an auction," Maxwell said in the video posted by the franchise.
You guys are idiots but in a lovely way: Virat Kohli on Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell
However, there was a funny yet interesting incident that happened where Adam Zampa had given Maxwell the RCB cap even before he was bought by the RCB and the all-rounder said that Virat Kohli had seen the photo sent by Zampa and also responded.
"There's actually a funny story. The day of the auction, it was at night time in New Zealand. We were training while in quarantine in New Zealand. Adam Zampa had his RCB hat in his bag, so he took it out and made sure we had a photo. He sent it to Virat and said 'Let's get it over the line. Congratulations I have already given him his first cap!' ,” revealed Maxwell.
Meanwhile, Kohli too took it in a positive way, saying that the Australian pair are idiots but in a lovely way. Maxwell had a great start with the bat for RCB where he scored a match-winning 39 off just 28 balls against Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2021 campaign opener.