After losing the toss, Jonny Bairstow came to bat first and gave a quick start to Punjab. Punjab’s second wicket for 85 runs in the seventh over fell in the form of Bhanuka Rajapaksa, then Livingstone came out to bat and from thereon, Punjab kept its control over the game. Punjab Kings already had a great start and Livingston’s job was to carry it forward.
As Liam Livingstone does, he took the explosive route and pushed Royal Challengers Bangalore on backfoot despite Punjab losing wickets. He Completed his fifty in 35 balls on the first ball of the 19th over. This was his fourth half-century with the bat in IPL 2022. During this he hit 4 fours and 2 sixes. But during this time wickets kept falling from the other end. After completing his fifty with four boundaries, Livingstone changed the batting gear and rained fours and sixes off Josh Hazlewood. He hit two fours and two sixes in the 19th over and took a total of 24 runs.
During his innings, Livingstone hit a brilliant six off Shahbaz Ahmed in the fourth ball of the 14th over. This six was 105 meters long. Earlier in the season also, Livingstone has hit sixes longer than 100 meters many times. On the third ball of the 20th over, Livingstone was caught behind the wicket by DK In Harshal Patel’s over. He hit 5 fours and 4 sixes during his innings of 70 runs in 42 balls.
In the post match interview, Liam Livingstone said, “I have got a tight calf, so just as a precaution I went off and iced it. I didn’t want to make it any worse. That’s how we want to play our cricket, Jonny was outstanding and set the tone, from then on we were ahead of the game. It was a chance for myself to get in and assess the conditions a little bit longer than usual. It was nice to knock it around for a little bit before setting a platform to get at the end.
“Jonny set it up for the rest of the batters and the way we bowled was exceptional on a very good pitch. I still thought we were 10-15 short with the size of the boundary and how good the pitch was, all credit goes to our bowlers. If we get our chance to put the opposition under pressure then make sure we do that, Jonny did that against one of their best bowlers in the tournament.
“It has been a different role, I have been up and down the order, just trying to make a contribution in every game and the proudest thing for me is being able to contribute in all areas. I am seeing the ball well at the moment and it is nice to put in performances to win games for your team. Wherever I play, batting in different positions, I have the skill set to bat anywhere and that is something that sets me up really well.”