Rajasthan Royals (RR) batsman Liam Livingstone said power-hitting is his super strength and he hopes to continue with it in the second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in the UAE.
The destructive England batsman has close to 350 sixes overall to his name across formats. The hard-hitting batsman said he has been really enjoying his cricket in recent times and was happy his past work, especially in power-hitting, is now starting to pay off.
Livingstone said in a RR release, “Power-hitting is something that I've worked really hard at -- trying to get that consistency. Ultimately, it's sort of a super strength for me at the moment and hopefully, I can continue with it. I've really enjoyed my cricket over the last two or three months.”
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He further added, “I certainly wouldn't have expected to do what I've done -- if you would've said at the start of the summer that this was going to happen, I wouldn't have believed you. So, it's nice to see my hard work of the last couple of years starting to pay off.”
The Englishman also opened up on his decision to withdraw midway into the first phase of the IPL 2021. He revealed, “I had spent a lot of time away from home during the winter, living out of hotels. Ultimately, I guess the pressure of everything kind of built up to a point where I felt like I wasn't in the best place to perform even if I was needed to.”
Livingstone continued, “The best decision for me personally and my own health was to go home and take some time off, and I think Royals management were kind enough to understand this and make everything easy for me. I feel there's more to life than just cricket, and sometimes we sort of forget that we are actual human beings and sometimes we have to look after ourselves.
I guess the decision I made at the time wasn't an easy one, I wanted to stay with the Royals and try to help us win some games. But I think sometimes your mental and physical health is most important.”
On RR’s campaign in the first half of the IPL 14, Livingstone said: “The team played some good cricket at times and some bad cricket as well. But we've now got a great opportunity to qualify for the playoffs. I feel like we've put together a really good squad, we've filled our overseas with good quality. We've got a lot of Indian talent in our group and hopefully, we can get our combinations right to get some points.”
He signed off by saying on the UAE conditions, “I've played a full PSL here and some matches with England as well, so I feel the pitches are good. Everybody thinks they're going to be really spin-friendly, but sometimes they're really good pitches and can prove to be as good as anywhere else in the world.”
(With ANI Inputs)
