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Glenn Maxwell made a memorable return to cricket with a brilliant and typical-Maxi innings, making 83 off just 39 balls for the Melbourne Stars in their first game of the Big Bash League against Brisbane Heat at the Metricon Stadium in Queensland on Friday.

A day after he was bought at the VIVO Indian Premier League auction by Kings XI Punjab, the captain of Melbourne Stars led from the front to score nearly half of the team's score, which proved too much for the opposition.

The 31-year-old Glenn Maxwell walked in at a slightly precarious 56/3 in the eighth over with Brisbane Heat's decision to take the field seemingly paying off but from there on the Aussie star took centre-stage.

He sounded out his intentions early, scoring consecutive boundaries off Ben Cutting to kickstart his innings. The Stars skipper lost Peter Handscomb, Ben Dunk and Clint Hinchliffe in the space of five overs but he remained undeterred, continuously going for the big hits and nailing them more often than not.

Adam Zampa joined Glenn Maxwell at the start of the 15th over and smartly let the latter go about his business. The skipper made full use of it, and unfurled all the shots in the book - from the traditional power-hits to the unconventional reverse-batted paddles and sweeps, often finding the boundary ropes with ease.

When he sent a Mitchell Swepson delivery down the fine leg for a boundary, he raised his fifty in just 23 balls, matching his fastest half-century ever.

He was dismissed only in the last over for 83, taking just 39 balls for an astonishing strike rate of 212.82, laced with 7 fours and 5 sixes, two of the latter coming in the penultimate over.

Melbourne Stars posted 167/7 with Glenn Maxwell accounting for 49.70 per cent of the runs. The next highest-scorer of the innings was Peter Handscomb with a 20.

The score proved too much for Brisbane Heat as they could muster only 145/8 handing Melbourne Stars a 22-run win.

For his scintillating knock, Glenn Maxwell was named Player of the Match capping a successful return to the game.