MELBOURNE: Australia’s Glenn Maxwell attributed his red-hot form in the ongoing Big Bash League to the break he took to address his mental health issues and said he has banished his demons.

The explosive all-rounder flagged his struggle with mental health in October and spent much of the subsequent seven weeks with friends and family before quietly returning to action.

The Melbourne Stars captain hammered 83 not out off 45 balls to pull off a tricky chase against Melbourne Renegades, sealing the victory with his seventh six at the Marvel Stadium on Friday.

“I think I’m starting to see the benefits now, I’ve got no demons in my head,” Maxwell told Cricket Australia website. “I’ve been able to get everything off my chest and been able to deal with things better. I’m still talking to people about managing different parts of my life and making sure I’ve still got that balance.”

Maxwell is the second highest run-accumulator at this edition of the tournament, 20 runs behind team-mate Marcus Stoinis (331) and has scored 182 runs without being dismissed in his last three innings.

“It’s nice to be a bit more relaxed when I’m batting,” said the 31-year-old. “I don’t have anything going in the back of my mind, I don’t have any of these other thoughts. It’s been nice and calm out there.”

He has been left out of the upcoming one-day series in India after an underwhelming 12 months of 50-overs cricket, including a poor World Cup outing in England.

Maxwell doesn’t believe his Big Bash purple patch would pave the way back into the Australian one-day squad.

“This is T20 cricket. They’re playing one-day cricket,” he said. “One-day cricket is completely different. They will probably write that my World Cup wasn’t good enough. I’ll just try to keep doing as well as I can for the Stars.”

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020