GT Vs PBKS, IPL 2024: Punjab Kings Unlikely To Liam Livingstone’s Services In Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad: Punjab Kings are still undecided on the availability of Liam Livingstone against Gujarat Titans in the ongoing IPL 2024 after the Englishman suffered a hamstring injury against Lucknow Super Giants earlier this week. An integral member in the Punjab Kings middle order, Livingstone’s power-hitting down the order helped the team win over Delhi Capitals in their campaign opener. According to sources, Livingstone spent the entire day with the team physio on Wednesday during their optional training session. The right-hander was also absent from training on Tuesday.
“Yesterday was the optional training session and Livingstone spent the whole time with the physio. The day before yesterday too he wasn’t present at the training. The final decision on him will be taken just before the game,” the source said. However, Punjab Kings can still use him as an Impact Player. In that case, he will only come during Punjab Kings’ batting.
Meanwhile, before the game, Jitesh Sharma also hinted at Livingstone’s unavailability against Gujarat Titans. “I think Livingstone won’t be able to make it to the team tonight due to his injury, let’s see,” he said.
In case Livingstone is unavailable, Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikander Raza can come in as a like-for-like replacement. Punjab Kings have lost their last two away games and another slip-up against Gujarat Titans will lead to further loss of momentum which tends to shift very quickly due to lack of turnaround time. Losing Livingstone would mean Punjab Kings to lose their key enforcer during the death overs.
On the other hand, the Pakistan-born Zimbabwean had stunning 2023 with 515 runs from 12 games at a strike rate around 150. With the ball, Raza took 17 wickets for Zimbabwe in the shortest format of the game. Even in IPL 2023, Raza’s 7-ball 13 helped Punjab Kings win a match against Chennai Super Kings.
To add more to that, Raza bats down the order and also is a handy off-spinner. Punjab Kings do have other options in Nathan Ellis, Rilee Rossouw, and Chris Woakes to replace Livingstone but won’t do. For the unknown, Rossouw failed to score a single fifty in Pakistan Super League last month and won’t fit in the top order which is already occupied with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Jonny Bairstow, and Prabhsimran Singh.
With Woakes and Ellis, Punjab Kings won’t get the batting liberty. If operated wisely, Raza can be an actual threat against the Gujarat Titans’ left handers like Sai Sudharsan, David Miller, and Rahul Tewatia.