England all-rounder Liam Livingstone has given an update about when he will be joining the Punjab Kings (PBKS) franchise for the IPL 2023 tournament on April 7, 2023. Livingstone has been out of cricketing action for the last four months after sustaining a knee injury.
Livingstone suffered a knee injury during his Test debut for England against Pakistan in December 2022. While he recovered from the same, the Englishmen also endured an ankle injury last year that flared up in recent weeks to make his rehab tougher.
He had an excellent season for the PBKS franchise in IPL 2022. Livingstone had a great campaign and in 14 matches, he scored 437 runs at an average of 36.41 and a massive strike rate of 182.08. He scored four half-centuries in the tournament with the best score of 70.
“I am getting there, finally. It has been a long road: three or four days a week at the gym over the last three or four months. Maybe towards the end of this week or the start of next week, I’ll fly out to India and get going again. Feeling much better. I had some injections midway through last week. It’s settled it down a lot, finally been able to get outside and do some running and get back to proper cricket stuff. That’s probably been about four or five days now, so just trying to build back up to match fitness now,” Livingstone said on LancsTV’s coverage and was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
Livingstone is an important player for Punjab Kings, who retained him on a contract worth Rs 11.50 crore ahead of the auction last year.
Hopefully Over The Next 48 Hours Or So: Liam Livingstone On Getting Clearance From ECB
It is certain that he will miss Punjab Kings’ third game of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 9. They play their fourth game at home on April 13. The PBKS expect Livingstone to arrive in India on April 10 and will be expected to play in the match against Gujarat Titans on April 13.
Livingstone also expects England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to give him a travel clearance “over the next 48 hours or so”.
“I got over my ankle to play in the World Cup, then my knee has been a bit of a niggly one. I finally sorted that out and my ankle flared up again. Hopefully, they are both under control now and it will be nice to get back to playing finally. It’s been a difficult couple of months, but finally, now I am like a little kid wanting to get back playing cricket again.
Hopefully over the next couple of days, I will get the clearance to head out there. I am looking forward to getting back out, getting back playing, and hopefully over the next 48 hours or so I will finally get that,” said the all-rounder about his clearance.
The Kings have won their first two games in the IPL 2023, defeating the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati and the Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali. They have played Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, and Nathan Ellis as their overseas players in both matches.