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England all-rounder Liam Livingstone drops massive statements after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season, where he played only a couple of matches for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Livingstone claims that he felt very bored in some of the matches because of the nature of the pitch. The experienced all-rounder, who is mostly known for playing big shots, stated that the pitches used in IPL 2026 were so flat that they made smashing the bowlers’ hits very easy.
Liam Livingstone criticises the IPL 2026 pitches
Ahead of the IPL 2026 season, Sunrisers Hyderabad picked Liam Livingstone for a whopping price of INR 13 crore. In exchange for that expensive price tag, he scored only 15 runs in 2 innings for an average of 7.50. However, he explains that the batters who had scored plenty of runs in the league this year executed those shots with ease as the surfaces were too flat.
For example, he talked about their match against the Mumbai Indians, where Hyderabad won by 6 wickets chasing a target of 244 runs. According to the English all-rounder, it was a boring match for him as the batters were going for big shots without facing any difficulties.
It was actually quite boring: Liam Livingstone
“We were playing Mumbai, and we chased 230 or 240 in 18 overs. I thought it was actually quite boring. Just watching people go 6, 6, 6. There is no real skill involved. The pitches were so flat, and the Impact Player just comes in.”
“The boundaries are big enough, but the pitches are so flat. In Mumbai, the ball just absolutely flies. In Hyderabad, he played at the same pitch maybe five or six times,” Liam Livingstone said at the Stick To Cricket podcast.
Liam Livingstone on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Despite criticizing the pitches in IPL 2026, he acknowledges Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s surreal talent. Liam Livingstone says that he never witnessed anything like that before.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’ve been there; this year was my seventh IPL. And I’ve played with and against some very good players, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Livingstone said.
He further mentioned that to dismiss the 15-year-old batter, they applied every possible method their bowlers could use. They pitched the ball short, they placed it on the leg and middle, but nothing proved effective against Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Talking about the Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad match, which was held at the Wankhede Stadium on April 29, Mumbai registered 243 runs in 20 overs. Opener Ryan Rickelton remained not out for 123 runs off 55 balls, smashing ten 4s and eight 6s.
Sunrisers chased down the target with 8 balls to spare. Travis Head (76 off 30), Heinrich Klaasen (65* off 30), Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24), and Salil Arora (30* off 10) made the run chase easy as they assaulted the opposing bowlers without any hesitation.
