3 min readUpdated: Jun 5, 2026 12:34 PM IST
Liam Livingstone could play just two matches in the 2026 season of the Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad and the England all-rounder has said that it may be because the team owners preferred a player above him. Livingstone had rather forgettable outings for SRH this season, scoring a 20-ball 14 against Lucknow Super Giants and then a solitary run as an Impact Player off five balls against Chennai Super Kings.
He didn’t bowl in either matches and while SRH lost to LSG, they beat CSK by 10 runs. Livingstone played for Lancashire a couple of days after SRH’s IPL campaign ended in the Eliminator.
“I think there are three ways in the IPL. You are either playing, locked in and everything is kind of set out for you. There’s like a fringe where you may or may not. And your thoughts are, ‘If I play, this is how it’s going to go.’ Me this year, when I went there we got a lad in the auction that Mumbai Indians really wanted but we had more money, so we ended up getting him. The owners loved him. So he was locked in to play for us. When we didn’t have Cummins, we were playing only three overseas (players). So I asked Dan (Head coach Dan Vettori), why we are playing only three overseas?” Livingstone said in the Stick to Cricket podcast.
“He was like, ‘the owners love this lad. When Cummins comes back in we are not going to change our thing’. Which is great. I knew that I was not going to play unless somebody got injured. So then it’s a completely different mindset when you know, you are not going to play.’”
Livinstone said that he wasn’t sure if it is fair to say that the team owners have the final say in how the playing eleven should like but they have an influence. He also appreciated Vettori for telling him exactly what the situation is. “I don’t know if they call the shots fully but they obviously have a say. But I guess the biggest thing for me this year from Dan Vettori was that he told me what was happening. I knew,” Livingstone said.
