Rain cut short India's chase at 0-27 in Ranchi, with the hosts in hot pursuit of the tourists' 8-295 - an innings compiled largely due to Bailey (98) and Maxwell (92) providing a fifth-wicket stand worth 153.
But the stand-in skipper refused to take any credit for his stay in the middle despite almost making a century after being dropped first ball, as he lauded Maxwell's 77-ball dig after coming to the crease at 4-71.
"Not really, I was dropped twice," Bailey said, when asked if he was happy with making his highest score of the series.
"I was a bit frustrated out there and found it quite difficult.
"I thought Maxy's innings was absolutely superb.
"We've seen his hitting before and we've seen how he can take games away late in innings.
"But to come in with the team under pressure, the ball still doing a little bit, I thought he summed it up.
"He still hit the boundaries and the sixes but he hit them off the ball he needed to hit, he didn't take any risks, they were smart shots.
"He took the pressure off me, I was finding it a little bit tough out there.
"When you've got someone scoring at the pace he was, it put the pressure back on India.
"It was just a great knock."
The wet weather meant the fourth match of the seven-game ODI series ended without a result but India's Mohammed Shami (3-42) wreaked havoc early on, ousting Australia's top three of Aaron Finch, Phil Hughes and Shane Watson, with Bailey admitting the 23-year-old quick caught them by surprise.
Bailey added that the swinging wicket helped Shami's cause early on, with plenty of movement for both paceman and spinners.
"Probably what it (the pitch) did that the other wickets hadn't done was it just swung and seamed and span a little bit, particularly at the start," he said.
"Shami, he bowled very well - someone we hadn't seen in the series who was a little bit quicker than what we expected, and he certainly got a lot of movement off the seam.
"Having said that, from the moment Glenn Maxwell strode to the crease, he made it look like a different wicket."
Despite some momentum building in Bailey's bid for an Ashes spot for the series starting next month, the Tasmanian quickly silenced any talk he had a Test position on his mind.
"There's eight guys who have a chance of playing in that Ashes team. It's so far away," Bailey said.
"It's just ridiculous to look at it.
"There's guys at home playing Shield cricket, we've got Australia A games when we get back...I don't know if there's anyone out there playing in these games thinking about that."
Australia retain their 2-1 lead heading to the fifth game of the series in Cuttack on Saturday and can still regain the top ODI ranking if they win all three remaining clashes and take out the series 5-1.
Glenn Maxwell lauded in abandoned ODI
