IPL 2022: The excellence of Liam Livingstone

The buzz around Liam Livingstone was lucid even before the commencement of the IPL 2022 mega auction. Everyone knew that he was going to fetch a whopping price. After an intense round of bidding, Punjab Kings finally acquired his services for INR. 11.5 crores.

Livingstone was an ideal pick for Punjab Kings, given the mindset they went with in this year’s auction. They assembled a power-packed team, where a majority of the batters could go bonkers from the first ball itself. But the main focus was on the English all-rounder Liam Livingstone, and rightly so.

While Livingstone had already proven himself in the shortest format, there was an obvious ambivalence about his performance. After all, he had a horrid run in IPL 2021. In the five innings he played last season, he made mere 42 runs at an abysmal average of 8.4 and a strike rate of 102.4.

Come IPL 2022, Livingstone immediately sidelined all the dubieties by showcasing his known supreme skills. He started playing impactful knocks right away. In a team full of several stars, Livingstone soon made himself one of the most salient players; someone PBKS started banking on heavily.

So, what exactly has Liam Livingstone done for PBKS this season? The simple answer is heavylifting. His drudgery has been distinct, effective and consistent.

His strike rate of 180.8 is obviously very high, and this is not surprising either. His whole setup is designed for incessant pyrotechnics. His stable head position, hip-shoulder separation and lightning-fast bat speed just make him a six-hitting machine.

Watch: Prasidh Krishna's brilliant setup to get Liam Livingstone Out

His balls-per-six ratio of 7.34 is comfortably the best - among the batters with a minimum of 200 balls this season. But you would expect someone as explosive as him to be inconsistent. But, it's not only about hitting nonchalant sixes in Livingstone's case.

Not only does he hits persistent boundaries, but Livingstone also plays big knocks with minimal risk possible. The Englishman has made four 50+ scores this season, with the slowest one coming at a strike rate of 166.67 against RCB. This is enough to get a fair idea of his dexterity with the willow.

His 60-run knock off 33 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad was quintessential. The ball was not coming on nicely, and the day game meant the track was only slowing down as the game progressed. He came in at No. 4 in the fifth over, with PBKS having lost both openers.

Most of the batters will take some time and nudge around singles and doubles in such a situation. But Liam Livingstone didn't even think of doing anything like that. On his second ball itself, he scooped Marco Jansen for a four.

In the same over, he thumped up a four again off a slower delivery; followed by another scoop shot for a six on the next ball. This scoop was a clear indication that he could read the bowler's mind. After being hit for a boundary on a relatively wide slower ball, Jansen was obviously going to increase the pace and shift his line to the stumps.

And, he did the same only to concede a maximum over the fine leg. The wickets kept tumbling from the other end, but Livingstone was in no mood to stop. He first used Umran Malik's pace to guide the ball to a six over the third man, only to smoke a gargantuan 106m six off a 145 km/h delivery over mid-wicket in his next over.

He continued taking on the bowlers and made a quality 28-ball fifty. While the other PBKS batters have had a strike rate of 96.55, Livingstone struck at 181.82 in this innings. All this while playing only 27.27% dot balls.

He played another fine knock against RCB in the last game. When Jonny Bairstow departed after providing a brisk start to the team, the Lancashire-man weaved a prudent innings. Unlike his natural gameplay, he started off warily this time around.

The team management would have probably asked him to do so. However, after playing out a few balls, he unleashed his beast mode; hit boundaries with ease. This knock showed his versatility to play as per the team requirements and bat in different gears based on the game situation.

Hence, despite starting off slowly, he ended up at a strike rate of 166.67. In his last 28 balls, he had a strike rate of 200, including four boundaries and as many sixes.

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Apart from scoring half-centuries, Livingstone has also played useful cameos as well. Eight of his twelve innings have come at a strike rate of above 150 this season. He has made 20.23% of total runs at an opulent strike rate of 180.75 for PBKS.

Now, someone who hits boundaries as frequently as Livingstone will understandably err more while playing the shots. But, guess what? That is not really the case with Liam Livingstone.

Among all the batters to have faced at least 200 balls, Liam Livingstone has the best scoring rate (10.85) this season so far. What's more astonishing is that he has played only 13.62% false shots, which is the fifth-lowest in the mentioned sample size. All those attacking shots have been very neat and on the right set of balls.

He has varied shots in his armour to choose from. But, his shot selection has largely been explicit. His boundary ball% of 26.29 is the highest, and his dot ball% of 30.52 is the fourth-lowest.

Hence, he not only hits boundaries but also accommodates runs by running hard between the wickets. 26.75% of his runs have also come in singles, doubles or triples. In this way, he minimises risks and maximises run-scoring opportunities.

Since he doesn't have the luxury of batting much in the powerplay, it is also a necessity. No matter how good your hitting expertise is, hitting a boundary every ball is impossible. Hence, as the field remains wide open, fetching non-boundary runs is percipient.

Apart from being a prominent hitter, Livingstone can also put the ball in the gaps consistently. His method of operating is as unrivalled and as effective as it can get. It is dream stuff for any batter, and Livingstone is turning that into reality with ease.

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It's not that Liam Livingstone is flawless. Just like every batter, he also has a chink in his armour. The bowlers can confine him by bowling wide lines.

The Rajasthan Royals pacers bowled the wide lines, compelling Livingstone to clear the long boundary. He clearly looked uncomfortable and shuffled on the sixth stump to counter them. This enabled Krishna to bowl a stump line yorker, which he nailed to perfection - dismissing Livingstone.

The teams can agitate him by keeping the ball wider with fielders in the deep. There are an ample number of bowlers in the league to bowl him with such a tactic. Going forward, he will be targeted more with this particular plan.

However, the margin of error is quite less. His extensive range allows him to dispatch every erred delivery to the boundary.

Over the years, Liam Livingstone has toiled to keep improving himself. One can expect him to work on this area and resolve it gradually. Of course, this is a flaw, but then no one is perfect in this world.