England all-rounder Liam Livingstone is waiting for clearance from England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to join his IPL side Punjab Kings (PBKS) for the IPL 2023 and is most likely to miss the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Sunday.
Livingstone has been out of competitive cricket ever since he injured his knee during his Test debut for England against Pakistan four months back in Rawalpindi. In recent weeks, he has also been suffering from a flare-up of an ankle injury that he had sustained in The Hundred last year, which has kept him out of his side's first two matches.
However, the PBKS expects Livingstone to arrive in India on April 10 and will be expected to play in the match against Gujarat Titans on April 13. Livingstone also expects England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to give him a travel clearance "over the next 48 hours or so".
"I am getting there, finally. It has been a long road: three or four days a week at the gym over the last three or four months. Maybe towards the end of this week or the start of next week, I'll fly out to India and get going again.
Feeling much better. I had some injections midway through last week. It's settled it down a lot, finally been able to get outside and do some running and get back to proper cricket stuff. That's probably been about four or five days now, so just trying to build back up to match fitness now,” Livingstone said on LancsTV's coverage and was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
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Livingstone had a great campaign for PBKS in IPL 2022. In 14 matches, he scored 437 runs at an average of 36.41 and a massive strike rate of 182.08. He scored four half-centuries in the tournament with the best score of 70.
"I got over my ankle to play in the World Cup, then my knee has been a bit of a niggly one. I finally sorted that out and my ankle flared up again. Hopefully, they are both under control now and it will be nice to get back to playing finally. It's been a difficult couple of months, but finally, now I am like a little kid wanting to get back playing cricket again," concluded Livingstone.
The all-rounder also talked about getting clearance from ECB for the IPL 2023.
"Hopefully over the next couple of days, I will get the clearance to head out there. I am looking forward to getting back out, getting back playing, and hopefully over the next 48 hours or so I will finally get that," said the all-rounder about his clearance.
The Kings have won their first two games in the IPL 2023, defeating the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati and the Kolkata Knight Riders in Mohali. They have played Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sikandar Raza, Sam Curran, and Nathan Ellis as their overseas players in both matches.
However, they will have the services of pacer Kagiso Rabada who arrived in India and will be available for Sunday's match in Hyderabad. Matt Short - who replaced the injured Jonny Bairstow in the Kings' squad - is the other overseas player in the squad.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa also gave an update about his injury after he was forced to retire hurt in the match against Rajasthan Royals as he was hit on the forearm by a shot from Shikhar Dhawan while standing at the non-striker's end.
He tweeted later that night: "The X-rays have cleared me of any broken bones/fractures! Plenty of ice needed but I am doing fine."
(ANI inputs)
