Liam Livingstone played a whirlwind knock of 82 off 38 for the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in their International League T20 opener against the Sharjah Warriorz.
Livingstone started his ILT20 2025/26 campaign in style, hitting a match-winning 82, featuring two fours and eight maximums. Walking in at No.4 following compatriot Alex Hales’ (32 off 19) dismissal, he took his time to get going, scoring seven runs off his first nine deliveries.
He opened his boundary account with two sixes off Sikandar Raza in the 11th over, and it wasn’t until the 15th over that he got his next set of boundaries – two fours and a six off Dwaine Pretorius. He was content with playing the waiting game as Sherfane Rutherford (45 off 27), and then Andre Russell (11 off 4) took over the run-scoring mantle, completing his fifty off 32 deliveries in the 19th over.
But Livingstone came into his own in the last over as he demolished Pretorius, smashing him for five sixes to take the team’s total to 233-4, which turned out to be a match-winning one.
Tim David was the only Sharjah batter who troubled the Knight Riders as he maintained his scintillating form to hit a 24-ball 60. Pretorius (39 off 20) and Adil Rashid (25 off 11) chipped in with significant contributions down the order, but that wasn’t enough as Livingstone and co. won by 39 runs to start their ILT20 campaign on a high.
Also Read: Explained: Why the ILT20 is being held in an earlier window this season
Livingstone not in scheme of things for England for T20 World Cup
Livingstone, notably, hasn’t played T20I cricket for England since featuring in the five-match series in India earlier this year, where he scored just 74 runs in five innings at a strike-rate of 127.58. He isn’t in the scheme of things with the T20 World Cup coming up in two months, and England only scheduled to play Sri Lanka in three T20Is before the ICC event rolls on.
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