Sweet timing for in-form Maxwell

Glenn Maxwell has clicked into gear at exactly the right time as he prepares to battle India with Australia's One-Day International team, striking a powerful half-century for the Melbourne Stars on Wednesday night.

It was the allrounder's second fifty of the tournament and Maxwell said while he felt his batting had been on song for some time, his performance at the MCG had turned it up a notch.

Watch: Who needs the reverse sweep?

"I've been hitting it well for a while, ever since the (Sheffield) Shield stuff I feel I've been hitting them well and moving really well," Maxwell said after the Stars' emphatic KFC Big Bash League win over the Hurricanes.

"(But) it hadn’t quite clicked into gear and today everything clicked and I felt really good.

"It's the right time to be (playing well), for the one-dayers."

Watch: Maxwell wins MOTM

Maxwell's trick shots stayed in the kitbag on Wednesday night as he struck 56no from 32 deliveries, as he took a more orthodox – yet still powerful – approach.

"I didn't need (my reverse sweep) tonight," Maxwell said.

"The field was set in such a way that I didn’t need it. I've always said I only play that shot to manipulate the field, and I'd manipulated it before I even played it, so it worked out beautifully.

"Tonight the field was set better to go over cover and look for anything short."

The allrounder was also handed the new ball after the Stars opted to bowl first and while his start with the ball was less than desirable – he bowled three wides in his first over – he finished with figures of 1-25 from three overs and said he was comfortable with where his off-spin was at ahead of next Tuesday’s first ODI against India at the WACA Ground.

"I bowled a pile of junk tonight but that can happen when you get the new ball," he said.

"That can happen when the ball drifts one way, which can happen with the new ball, it can sometimes drift and look worse than it is.

"The last two years I've been bowling really well in one-day cricket so hopefully it will all work over in Perth."

Watch: Maxwell's massive six

Maxwell and teammates James Faulkner and Scott Boland have been named in the 13-man Australia squad, which will assemble in Perth tomorrow. 

The 27-year-old, who registered a maiden ODI hundred in last year's World Cup quarter-final against Sri Lanka, said he didn't feel he would have any issues switching between the limited-overs formats.

"I don't change too much moving between the formats, " he added. "My role in the middle-order of the Australian team hasn't changed much in the last few years, I'll bat the same way and try to take on the spinners and be busy against the quicks."

He also feels the Stars have the depth to cover the loss of the trio.

"I'm sure they will be fine," he said. "If you look back over the history, whenever the Stars have lost guys they've won the round games and still played well, it's just the semi-finals that have been an issue. So hopefully they can get over that this year and get into the final."