Liam Livingstone was certainly at his best in IPL 2022 on Sunday night. He put up an all-round show at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium to justify the price tag of INR 11.50 crore that PBKS splurged on him at the IPL auction 2022. (IPL 2022 SCHEDULE | POINTS TABLE)
In the 11th match of the ongoing season, the Punjab Kings batter smashed the Chennai Super Kings bowlers all around the park during his 32-ball 60. He even broke his own record for the longest six in IPL 2022 by hitting the ball to a distance of 108 metres. However, more than anything, it was the fielding abilities of Livingstone on Sunday night that caught more limelight than his batting supremacy.
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While powerful batting is nothing new for Livingstone, his sensational catch in the game off his own bowling just added cherry on the cake. The right-arm leg-break bowler first dismissed Shivam Dube on the fifth ball of his second over then he surprised the crowd with a sensational catch to dismiss Dwayne Bravo on the very next ball.
It was a typical leg spin delivery pitched around the good length area to which Bravo brought his front foot forward and tried to defend. However, the batter failed to keep the ball down and it popped to the left of Livingstone, who put a sensational jump to take the catch.
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Talking about the match, Livingstone’s 60 off 32 balls, laced with 5 fours and as many sixes, helped PBKS post a total of 180/8 on the board. In reply, CSK got bundled out for 126 in 18 overs. While Shivam Dube scored 57 off 30 balls, MS Dhoni failed to repeat his performance from the previous games and scored just 23 off 28 balls.
Livingstone picked 2/25 in 3 overs to complete an all-round performance for his side. With it, PBKS registered their second win in IPL 2022. The side had earlier defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets in their campaign opener. Meanwhile, they had lost their second game to Kolkata Knight Riders by 6 wickets.
PBKS next play against Gujarat Titans on April 8.
