Glenn Maxwell has revealed he’s still hopeful of making a long-awaited Test comeback in Sri Lanka in January as he continues to rehabilitate the hamstring injury he suffered during the recent ODI series against Pakistan.

The 36-year-old limited-overs specialist admitted on Sunday he only had a “50-50” chance of being fit for the Melbourne Stars’ first match of the Big Bash League season, having suffered a hamstring strain during the third ODI.

But Maxwell, who played the last of his seven Tests against Bangladesh in Chattogram in 2017, said his sights were set on returning to international red-ball cricket in Australia’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka, to be played in Galle across January and February.

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Cricket Australia revealed in July that Maxwell was in the frame for the tour, where his brilliant sweeping and handy off-spinners could prove beneficial to the Australians.

“This is a really good opportunity for me to get a lot of strength work into not just my hamstring but other areas of my body and make sure I am in a really good space heading into the back end of the year,” Maxwell said.

“I am 50-50 for the first game [of the BBL season] and wary with the Champions Trophy just around the corner, and hopefully, if things go right, Sri Lanka.

“There is so much to come. I don’t really want to put that at risk by pushing it.”

The BBL season will begin with a clash between Maxwell’s Stars and the Perth Scorchers at Perth’s Optus Stadium on December 15.

Maxwell had planned to play two Sheffield Shield matches for Victoria before the start of the BBL season, but those hopes were dashed when he injured a hamstring while chasing a ball in the outfield during the ODI match against Pakistan at Optus Stadium.

“It’s all tracking pretty well,” Maxwell said of his recovery.

“At this time of the year with the Big Bash coming back I need to get back to high intensity, high sprinting, so [recovery] is probably going to take a little bit longer [than three weeks].”

Maxwell has only ever played Test cricket on the subcontinent, in India, the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh.

He has a Test batting average of 26.07 and a top Test score of 104, which he made against India in Ranchi in 2017.

He’s bagged eight Test wickets at 42.62, and the 4-127 he took on his Test debut against India in Hyderabad in 2013 are the best figures he’s registered in a Test innings.

“[My] tactics will be exactly the same as I have played it in Tests in the past — backing my strengths and trying to have a really solid defence and back scoring options around that,” Maxwell said.

Australia reclaimed the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy in Australia in the 2018-19 summer, then retained the prized possession in a drawn away series in 2022.