Liam Livingstone is extremely excited about playing with Virat Kohli after he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise in the IPL 2025 mega auction. After being released by Punjab Kings (PBKS) last month, Livingstone was bought by RCB for a whopping INR 8.75 crore.
However, the 31-year-old was freed prior to the major auction, and Bengaluru, who were overhauling their team, purchased him for 87.5 million Indian rupees ($1.04 million) following a bidding war with Chennai Super Kings.
After finding a new home in the IPL, Livingstone discussed the Royal Challengers’ devoted support. The destructive batter also believes that playing at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB’s home stadium will fit his style of play because the venue has some of the best batting tracks in the IPL and the boundaries are on the smaller side.
“The fan base is very passionate. It’s probably one of the biggest franchises in IPL… It’s a bit of a fresh start for me. I think Bangalore is going to be very good for my game. It’s a little bit smaller than some of the stadiums in India, certainly better than what Punjab was for me. Hopefully, my game should suit that place well,” Livingstone told Reuters.
Livingstone, who made his IPL debut with the Rajasthan Royals in 2019, had spent the last three seasons with the Punjab Kings, where he amassed 827 runs as a middle-order hitter.
“Excited to be playing with Virat Kohli”- Liam Livingstone on joining RCB
Livingstone is excited about the opportunity to play for RCB, especially at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which is noted for its short boundaries and high-scoring games. The 31-year-old also recalled watching RCB’s renowned batting trio, Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, and AB de Villiers, on television.
Now, Livingstone hopes to make an impact with Kohli and fellow Englishman Phil Salt, whom RCB purchased for Rs. 11.5 crore, as they strive for their first IPL victory.
“I think we had a really good auction. We’ve got some good players, we picked up quite cleverly. There’s a few people in that team I know really well, so I’m pretty excited to get out there as a group. Playing with the likes of Virat is going to be really cool,” he added.
RCB squad for IPL 2025:
Virat Kohli (retained), Rajat Patidar (retained), Tim David, Manoj Bhandage, Devdutt Padikkal, Swastik Chikara, Phil Salt, Jitesh Sharma, Liam Livingstone, Krunal Pandya, Swapnil Singh, Romario Shepherd, Jacob Bethell, Mohit Rathee, Suyash Sharma, Abhinandan Singh, Josh Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yash Dayal (retained), Rasikh Salam, Nuwan Thushara, Lungi Ngidi
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