GT vs PBKS: Punjab Kings were not able to go past Gujarat Titans in match 18 of IPL 2023 in Mohali and lost the encounter by six wickets. It was Shubman Gill who played the innings of 67 runs off 49 balls which included seven fours and one six. The match however was about to become another last-ball thriller but Rahul Tewatia hit a boundary off the fifth ball and took his team over the line.
Livingstone’s performance in IPL
Liam Livingstone who has been one of the key players for the Punjab Kings joined the team squad late for IPL 2023 as he was recovering from his knee injury. The right-handed English batsman had a phenomenal IPL 2022 for the Punjab Kings and made 437 runs at a strike rate and average of 182.08 and 36.42 respectively he played for his team. His highest score here was 70.
However, despite Livingstone’s availability he didn’t play in the match against Gujarat Titans. Now, Brad Haddin who is one of the assistant coaches of the Punjab Kings has given an update on why did the English batsman not play in the match vs GT.
Brad Haddin drops an update on Liam Livingstone
“He’s just got off a flight. We are just monitoring him for the next couple of days just to see where he is at. He’s just come back from a long-term injury so we just had the opportunity to put some eyes on him over the last 24 hours. We’ll know a lot more coming into the next game”, Brad Haddin said in the post-match press interaction.
Liam Livingstone suffered a knee injury on his Test debut vs Pakistan in December last year and has not played any competitive cricket since then.
Coming back to GT vs PBKS match, Punjab Kings while batting first in Mohali scored 153/8 with Matthew Short top scoring 36 runs which consisted of six fours and one six. Shahrukh also batted at number seven, scored a nine-ball 22, and provided the much-needed boost to the innings.
Chasing the target Gujarat Titans were given a solid opening start by Shubman Gill and Wriddhiman Saha and added 48 runs for the first wicket. Saha was soon dismissed after scoring a 19-ball 30 but Shubman stayed at the crease till the last and took his team to the brink of victory. Shubman got out on the second ball of the 20th over and in a match that could have been a final ball thriller was saved by Rahul Tewatia. Tewatia struck a boundary on the fifth ball and took his team home.
