While Australian coach Justin Langer noticed that Maxwell lacked his regular enthusiasm against Sri Lanka, the swashbuckling batsman said it was his girlfriend Vini who noticed first.

Having stayed away from the game for close to two months due to mental health matters, Glenn Maxwell returns to the Big Bash League and is also keen to return to the Australian team if the chance arises.

Maxwell has also made himself available for the IPL but stressed his mind is firmly on captaining the Melbourne Stars over the coming weeks.

“I was pretty cooked when I decided to take the time off. I was pretty mentally and physically ruined from eight months on the road and living out of a suitcase. That had probably been going on for four or five years. It all caught up with me at that time.”

"You go through a lot of waves of emotions and especially that first week was probably the hardest.

"As I took the time away get myself right and speak to the right people and have that amazing support network behind me was pretty key to me being back to good health now.

Maxwell has stayed away from the spotlight playing club cricket with Fitzroy-Doncaster, a stint which has been beneficial and will continue on Saturday ahead of the Stars' first match against Brisbane Heat next Friday.

"I've had a great couple of weeks, playing club cricket and getting the love back for the game again and really enjoying it," he said.

"It was just getting back in that changeroom environment and having really good close mates around me.

"Probably not putting too much pressure on myself – I've been pretty hard on myself and I've been my own hardest critic for a long period of time. That can wear you down – it's more the stuff you put on yourself, not so much (what one gets) from the outside.

While Australian coach Justin Langer noticed that Maxwell lacked his regular enthusiasm against Sri Lanka, the swashbuckling batsman said it was his girlfriend Vini who noticed first.

"It was actually my partner who suggested I speak to someone," Maxwell said. "She was the first one who noticed it.

"My girlfriend was the number one (support). It probably wasn't an easy job for her to deal with me going through mood swings non-stop for the first few weeks,” Maxwell opened up for the first time publicly since stepping away.

"Once I'd had that initial conversation it was a big relief off my shoulders."

Maxwell has worked with Cricket Australia psychologist Michael Lloyd, who he's known for more than a decade, and sport psychiatrist Ranjit Menon since acknowledging there was a problem. He also acknowledged the immense help he received from Moises Henriques, who played the role of a mentor for him.

"Moises Henriques was someone I confided in. He was my first phone call after everything calmed down," said Maxwell.

“He was brilliant – he's gone through it as well so for him to give me an idea of what I could expect to see over the next few weeks was outstanding."