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Wade, Maxwell axings 'not with Ashes in mind'

Australia's acting coach David Saker warns against drawing any inferences for the Test summer after both players have been dropped on the ODI tour

Stand-in coach David Saker says Glenn Maxwell hasn't produced the numbers to justify his place in Australia's one-day side, but he's denied the decisions to drop the allrounder and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade on this Qantas Tour of India were made with a view to the Magellan Ashes this summer.

Maxwell was a shock omission from Australia's 21-run win in Bengaluru on Thursday with Wade – who himself had been a surprisingly left out for the match in Indore last Sunday – coming back into the side.

With an Ashes series looming and the spots of Maxwell (No.6) and Wade (No.7) the only major question marks over Australia's Test XI, selectors have shown they are willing to dump two established members of the ODI side after a run of low scores.

The positions of Maxwell and Wade in the Test team will be the major talking points in the weeks leading up to the first Test in Brisbane, but Saker said selection decisions on this tour are unrelated to the Ashes campaign.

"None of our selections are looking forward to the summer, we're just looking at the next game and trying to win the game in front of us," he said.

"What happens in the summer happens but we've still got four games in this series.

"Myself and (selector on duty) Mark Waugh, and we asked Steven Smith, we just talked about what's going to be the best for the team and that's what we always do.

"There's never been an eye on what's going to happen in the summer."

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Maxwell, part of Australia's World Cup triumph in 2015, again finds himself out of the ODI side having also been dropped last year. His axing in June 2016 came after he managed just nine runs in five innings and while he posted quickfire knocks of 60 and 78 against Pakistan in January this year, he averages 27 in 10 innings since his recall.

Wade, too, has been short of runs in the 50-over format; having scored a breakthrough century at The Gabba in January, he's reached double figures just once in seven innings since then.

"We're just looking for people to perform and in his last 20 games he probably hasn't done that," Saker said of Maxwell.

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"In his position and the way he plays, he's a big match-winner but it's been a while since he's done that for us. Especially in any consistent form.

"We really wanted Wade to keep through the series but we made that change the game before. Maxi's got to get some numbers to justify getting picked."

World Cup winning captain Michael Clarke said Maxwell is too good a player to not be playing regular international cricket and said the Australians needed to find a way to better harness his undoubted ability.

"I know he hasn't performed as well as we would have liked and I think everyone in Australia wants to see somebody so talented be more consistent," Clarke told Star Sports.

"But I think he's too good a player to now allow him to just go back into the wilderness and go back to first-class cricket.

"I think the leadership in the team needs to find a way to get the best out of Glenn Maxwell."

Australia's Qantas Tour of India

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

Australia T20 squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.

India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

ODI Fixtures

September 17: India won by 26 runs (DLS Method)

September 21: India won by 50 runs

September 24: India won by five wickets

September 28: Australia won by 21 runs

October 1: VCA Stadium, Nagpur

T20 Fixtures

October 7: JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi

October 10: Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati

October 13: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad