Maxwell slams Marsh brawl 'lies'

Shaun Marsh headed home to Australia after sustaining a back injury playing for out-of-sorts Punjab in the Indian Premier League.

Shaun Marsh batting for Kings XI Punjab.

Glenn Maxwell has slammed media reports in India that Shaun Marsh was sent home by Kings XI Punjab for instigating a dressing room brawl, describing the claims as 'lies'.

Marsh headed home to Australia after sustaining a back injury playing for out-of-sorts Punjab in the Indian Premier League. However, reports in India emerged claiming that Marsh was actually sent home due to his involvement in a brawl with an unnamed team-mate.

It has also been suggested that there is disharmony between the Indian players and international stars in the team. All-rounder Maxwell dismissed the stories surrounding Marsh as "absolute garbage", though, and hit out at "pathetic" claims regarding team morale.

"1/2 Hahaha just saw a report that @shaunmarsh9 was sent home because of a brawl with a kxip teammate, not because of injury..." he posted on Twitter.

"2/2 the poor bloke was in agony in the field last game he played, and then this rubbish comes out! #absolutegarbage #indianjournalism #lies."

A lengthier statement from Maxwell read: "The reports that say the team is in disarray are pathetic also. We made some small errors while chasing against Kolkata (lost by seven runs while chasing 12 in the last over), and against RCB (lost by 1 run), if those two results go our way, we would have won four in a row."

"Cricket is a game full of what if's and maybes, but just because you lose two close games against two quality sides, does not mean the team is in "disarray". Sometimes in cricket, things just go against you that you can't control as a player, umpiring, conditions, opposition players, the pitch, the toss."

"Despite a lot of these things that haven't quite gone our way, Murali Vijay and David Miller have done a great job with insuring [sic] the group stays tight through good and bad times, and we will continue to be a close group of players despite what these sensationalised reports are saying."

Kings XI is bottom of the table having won just three times in 10 matches.