IPL bid took me by surprise: Liam Livingstone after Royals selection

Liam Livingstone isn’t a renowned name in the cricketing world, but Rajasthan Royals (RR) didn’t make a mistake in spotting the young talent from Barrow-in-Furness, Cumberland. In the auction of next edition’s IPL, he was listed at a base price of INR 50 lakhs and wasn’t among the most sought-after buys. However, the Royals picked the batsman up at his base price.

The development also came as a surprise to Livingstone at a time when his coach wasn’t happy with how he was not doing his workouts as per expectations. However, Liam, apart from being surprised, is undoubtedly delighted on getting the opportunity of rubbing shoulders with the best in the business.

Homes Under the Hammer

“It was a bit of surprise, if I’m honest. You don’t know when your name will come into the auction and I had already been watching it for a couple of hours. My strength and conditioning coach was going mad that I wasn’t doing much. We were doing the 3km challenge – 3k on the rower, 3k on the bike and 3k on the treadmill,” Livingstone was quoted as saying in The Independent.

“I was trying to put that off for as long as possible. It was all a bit strange really, it was pretty much like Homes Under the Hammer. Your name comes up and then the owners start bidding. It was really nice to be picked up,” the 25-year-old added.

The right-handed batsman, also, has had the privilege of donning the English colours in a couple of T20Is against South Africa in 2017. Nevertheless, he flattered to deceive and could only score 16 runs at a strike-rate of 84.21. Thereafter, he hasn’t got a chance of representing his country again.

In the erstwhile T20 Blast, Livingstone played seven matches in which he has notched 318 runs at an average of 45.42 and an incredible strike-rate of 188.16. Moreover, he smacked a century against Derbyshire. A superlative IPL stint may help him pave his way back into the national setup.

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