'I was playing it cool. But he kept on going at me': Maxwell reveals 'powerful' final text messages from Shane Warne

The Australian all-rounder recalled his final text exchange with Shane Warne, who tragically passed away last month.

Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has shared a set of “powerful” text messages from the side's former cricketer and bowling legend Shane Warne while the former was going through a rough patch in his life. The former leg-spinner had tragically passed away from a suspected heart attack while on a vacation in Thailand; his friends rushed to revive him but Warne was pronounced dead in a nearby local hospital.

Shane Warne; Glenn Maxwell (PTI/AP)

Following his death, tributes poured in from all around the world as people remembered the cricket great. A special documentary on Shane Warne was recently aired in Australia, that included interviews from the cricketer's friends and former teammates, as they remembered Warne's immense contributions on and off the field.

Maxwell was one of the players who were part of the documentary. The Australian all-rounder had taken a break in 2019 to focus on his mental health and Maxwell has since been vocal about his battle with depression and anxiety. As he spoke about Warne, Maxwell recalled a recent text exchange with Warne, who had intended to check on his wellbeing.

"I actually went back, had a look at my last text chain with him, and it’s something that’s going to live with me forever," Maxwell said, as quoted by Mirror.

"He just randomly checked in, so it said, ‘Well played last night. How you doing? Are you OK?’

“And I didn’t think too much of it because I was sort of just playing it cool, ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Thanks, mate. Hope you’re going alright.’ But he kept on going at me, Sort of chipping away, ‘Nah, nah, are you OK? What’s up?’”

Maxwell further revealed that Warne insisted that he was there for him, and the all-rounder said it meant a lot to him.

"He knew that something was up and it took like the third or fourth time to ask me, ‘Are you OK?’ that I actually sort of told him what was going on and he’s just wrote a little paragraph to say that he was there for me, ‘Let me know if you ever need to chat or a phone call.’

“For him to sort of reach out to me at that time, and keep probing away to make sure that I was okay, I thought was really powerful and something that I really cherish about our friendship post-cricket. He was always there,” said Maxwell.