Melbourne Renegades captain Aaron Finch expects a wounded Glenn Maxwell to come out firing in the BBL derby after being dropped from Australia's ODI squad.
Maxwell was a shock omission from a 14-man squad named to face England in a five-match series starting later this month.
The dynamic allrounder has been on a mission to prove himself as a reliable batting option for Australia in all formats.
But it appears he still has some convincing to do, with Steve Smith on Wednesday suggesting Maxwell needed to "train smarter" and focus on the basics.
Finch, who is set to continue opening the batting in Australia's ODI team, said it would be a tough pill for his close friend to swallow.
"I know he would have been really disappointed with that," Finch said.
"Maxi probably would have been disappointed with how he played in India (during Australia's ODI tour in October). He probably didn't get as many runs as he would have liked.
"It's going to be hard for whoever's left out, so I'm disappointed for Maxi."
Maxwell will remain in the BBL with his Melbourne Stars side, who will be out to improve on their rough start to the season when they face the Renegades at the MCG on Saturday.
The third-placed Renegades are cruising but the highly-fancied Stars are winless from three games and desperately need a derby victory to keep their finals hopes alive.
Maxwell was scathing in his assessment of the Stars, and himself, after their loss to Brisbane Heat on Tuesday night, describing their batting performance as "putrid".
"He got 50 last game (for the Stars) so he feels in pretty good form, I would imagine," Finch said.
"I spoke to him before that game but haven't spoken to him since.
"We know how damaging he can be. He's got a very high career strike rate so he can take any attack apart if it's his day. Hopefully it's not on Saturday."
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