Punjab Kings all-rounder Liam Livingstone was delighted to perform well in the Tata Indian Premier League. Livingstone was happy to finally get the monkey off his back. The right-hander from England impressed one and all with his pyrotechnics and scored his runs at a brisk pace for Punjab Kings while batting in the middle order.
Livingstone scored 437 runs in 14 matches for the Mohali-based franchise at an average of 36.42 and a blistering strike rate of 182.08. The right-hander was at his absolute best for the Mayank Agarwal-led team and made a positive impact for the team.
Furthermore, Livingstone also did a decent job as a spinner for PBKS. Livingstone, who can bowl both off-spin and leg-spin scalped six wickets in 14 matches for the franchise.
Meanwhile, Livingstone didn’t have a great start to his IPL career as he had only managed 112 runs in nine innings between 2019 and 2021.
“I don’t think it could have gone any worse to be honest. There was only one way and that was up. I hadn’t really had too much opportunity before but there’s always people who say certain things. It’s the biggest tournament in the world, so it was nice to be able to do well. It was nice to finally get the monkey off my back about not being able to do it in the IPL,” he said, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo.
“It was nice to have a clear role. We go away and play in the IPL so that we can become accustomed to their conditions and that ultimately will help England in a World Cup next year. Any experience you get around the world with World Cups coming up is a great thing to have so I really enjoyed it.”
On the other hand, Livingstone is known to hit the ground running and he feels his ability to start hitting from ball one has got him into the England team. The 28-year-old recently smashed a 17-ball fifty against Netherlands and went on to score 66 off just 22 balls in the match in which England scored record-breaking score of 498 runs.
“It’s something that’s probably got me into this team. It’s starting to become a little bit more familiar now: I did it throughout the whole of the IPL and have done it more and more in the England team. A lot of it comes from practice.”
“One of the biggest things we’ve got from this group is the trust that it’s not always going to come off: some days it’s not going to work out and that’s absolutely fine. We’ve got trust in everybody’s ability around us that if it’s not your day, somebody else will do it for you.”
England have already sealed series against Netherlands as they have taken an impregnable lead of 2-0. The third ODI will be played on Wednesday.
