Known for his dramatic shot making and improvisation in short forms of the game,[6] in 2011, he set a new record for the fastest ever half-century in Australian domestic one day cricket, scoring 50 runs from 19 balls.

[16][17] He made his senior debut for the one-day side in February 2010 and was selected to play for the Australian Institute of Sports in the 2010 Emerging Players Tournament.

[18] Maxwell attracted national attention in February 2011 after scoring a match winning 51 from 19 balls in a Ryobi Cup game against Tasmania, the fastest half-century in Australian domestic one-day history,[19] and made his first-class debut for Victoria against New South Wales later in the month, taking two wickets and scoring 38 runs on debut.

[23] Maxwell attempted to transfer to New South Wales ahead of the 2016–17 summer but was refused permission and was dropped from the Victorian side for the first match of the Sheffield Shield season.

In 2021, he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore after another bidding war, this time with the Chennai Super Kings,[31] and finished the season as the team's highest scorer, with 513 runs.

[33] In England, Maxwell has played for Hampshire, Surrey, Yorkshire, Lancashire and Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs in the T20 Blast and for London Spirit in the 2022 season of The Hundred.

[34] Maxwell was selected for Australia's series against Pakistan in the UAE in 2012, with head selector John Inverarity saying that he was "a versatile and lively off-spinning allrounder and brilliant fieldsman" who "will provide another spin bowler option on the slow, low, turning wickets" expected in the country.

[35] He made his debut against Afghanistan in the one-off One Day International (ODI) which took place ahead of the matches against Pakistan,[36] before going on to play in five of Australia's six fixtures against the Pakistanis.

[43][44] He played in all five of Australia's group stage matches, taking a single wicket and scoring only eight runs in the two innings in which he batted, but was dropped from the side for the semi-final against West Indies.

[51][52] before being called into the Australian squad for the third Test against the touring Sri Lankans at the end of the year, replacing Shane Watson.

[55] After scoring 51 not out from 35 balls opening the batting against West Indies in the first ODI of in February,[56] Maxwell took four wickets in the second match of the series.

Maxwell made a return to the Test team in October 2014 against Pakistan in the UAE, playing in the second match of the two-match series.

He was names as Cricket Australia's men's T20I Player of 2015 at the Allan Border Medal ceremony[78] and played regularly throughout 2015 and the first half of 2016.

He was not included in either the Test and ODI teams for Australia's tour of Sri Lanka in 2016, but was in the side for the T20I series.

In 2018 he was indirectly accused by an Al Jazeera documentary of being a suspect in a set of spot-fixing allegations surrounding the third Test.

He was called into the squad as cover after before the first Test following injuries to Shaun Marsh and David Warner the day before the game[92][93] but did not play.

[96] Australia's captain Steve Smith suggested at a press conference that Maxwell could "train smarter", commenting that although he was an explosive one-day player than he should aim for more consistency in his game,[97] a view echoed by head selector Trevor Hohns.

[100] Maxwell returned to Australia's squad for the 2017–18 Trans-Tasman Tri-Series involving New Zealand and England in early 2018.

Despite being omitted from the Test squad to play Pakistan in October 2018,[108] Maxwell had re-established himself in the one-day side.

His form continued into the Australian summer when India toured Australia, but he was not selected for the Test side.

[120] Maxwell set a plethora of records during his knock of 201* against Afghanistan in a group stage match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup on 7 November.

[121] He was hailed by fans and critics who insisted that he played out of his skin to help Australia register an unlikely victory after being put on the back foot by Afghanistan early on in the Australian batting innings.

[135][136][137] His monumental knock of 201* which consisted of 21 fours and 10 sixes is also the highest individual score by an Australian in an ODI match surpassing the previous best by Shane Watson who made 185* against Bangladesh in 2011.

[141] He also surpassed Fakhar Zaman's record for the highest ever individual score by a batsman in the second innings of an ODI match.

He also became the first ever middle order batsman as well as non-opener to score a double century in Cricket World Cup history.

[148][149] Alongside the team captain, Pat Cummins, he shattered the previous record held by Zimbabwean pair, Dave Houghton and Iain Butchart, for one of the highest ever eighth wicket partnership in the history of Cricket World Cups in the match against Afghanistan.

"[153] Maxwell eventually ended the World Cup tournament on a high note, by scoring 400 runs in the whole tournament at an average of 66 striking at 150 while also picking up 6 wickets at a decent economy rate of 4.81 and played a pivotal role in Australia's sixth World Cup title.

After helping Australia win their record-breaking sixth World Cup, he continued his T20I success into 2024 by scoring his fourth and fifth centuries in his 100th and 102nd T20I appearance.