Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) explosive overseas recruit Liam Livingstone lived up to expectations with an unbeaten 38-run knock to lead his side to a four-wicket win over Delhi Capitals (DC). After getting PBKS off to a winning start in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Livingstone opened up on his struggles in the previous year.
“It has been a tough sort of year for me. The group has a lot of confidence in me. I have done some work on my game in the last 4 weeks. Hopefully the start of a good tournament for us. Sam got runs for us. The middle order would be fun,” Livingstone told the broadcasters after finishing the match with a six.
Livingstone said the pitch got better to bat on under the lights. He lauded the bowlers for restricting DC to 174/9 at Mullanpur, Chandigarh.
“We did really well. Our spinners dragged it really well. The pitch got better as the lights came on. The toss helped I guess. Just the first game. The bowlers have done well. We have got a very good outfit. To restrict them to what they got, was a good effort. We expected the pitch to get better and it did,” the England all-rounder said.
Livingstone walked in to bat in the 12th over of the run chase. He shared a 67-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Sam Curran who scored 63 runs from 47 balls. After Curran's wicket in the penultimate over, Livingstone smashed debutant Sumit Kumar for a six in the final over to finish the game.
Dhawan praises England all-rounders
PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan praised the English duo for taking the game away from DC in the slog overs.
“I feel under lights the wicket got better and Sam played an amazing innings and Livi finished it off,’ the 38-year-old said.
PBKS continue streak
This was the seventh time since 2017, PBKS won the first match of the season. In the next match, they will take on Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 25 at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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