Glenn Maxwell ready for Australia return despite slow recovery from broken leg

JOE GRANT: The allrounder has been named in the squad for India ODIs taking place next month after missing nearly all of the Australian summer after a freak accident at a friend's birthday party

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Glenn Maxwell has lamented his slow recovery from a broken leg he suffered last year.

A freak accident has seen the allrounder miss almost the entire Australian summer, including the Big Bash League, and ended any hope of a Test recall for the India series.

Having played for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield this week, he is in line for an international return after being selected for next month's one-day international series against India.

Maxwell has not made the progress he had hoped since breaking his leg at a friend's birthday party but with the Indian Premier League, T20 Blast, The Hundred and ODI World Cup on the horizon hopes he has timed his return to perfection.

"It probably hasn't happened as fast as I would have liked," Maxwell said. "I probably would have liked to be playing cricket a little bit earlier. But I think the fact that I knew the timeline for the one-day side and that was probably the realistic goal, I was able to manipulate my rehab program to fit the timeline that I was racing against.

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Maxwell is in line for his first international outing since the T20 World Cup (PATRICK HAMILTON/AFP via Getty Images)

"Having not played for three-and-a-half months, I made a conscious decision to make sure I filled up my calendar with cricket to lead into that World Cup at the back end of the year. Obviously, there's the one-day series which is going to be a big series, especially with the World Cup in India at the back end of the year.

"It will be a good opportunity for us to try and work out some things and get our game plan ready for the back end of the year, as well as having the IPL straight after it. It is about getting used to the Indian conditions again and spending a lot of time working on my game over there, which will then lead into to the Blast and the Hundred."

Maxwell returned to action after more than three months out for Victoria against South Australia, scoring five and zero in his two innings in a low-key comeback.

"Probably, mentally, batting in that position, I'll probably wasn't quite there," he admitted.

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Injury meant Maxwell's hopes of a test recall were torched (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

"In the nets, you can do all the hard work, but to try and get that mental application back in a game is obviously a different thing. So that's probably something I'm working on over the next few games - club cricket on Saturday and the Shield game as well. A few more hits out there, and just try and build up that match intensity."

He will not be playing in the final round of Marsh Cup matches this weekend but is confident he is ready to face India.

"Even just looking at the data from the last day of the Shield game, I started to get back to what a full one-day game looks like," he stressed

"So that time on my feet, that speed back up, it's all heading in the right direction. I always said I was building towards that one-day series in the back of my mind. So now I'm sort of closer to that workload that I need to be at. It's about trying to maintain that, get the pace back up, and then hopefully, in a couple of weeks' time be 100 per cent."


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