On Wednesday night in Mohali, Punjab Kings (PBKS) all-rounder Liam Livingstone showed no mercy to England teammate and Mumbai Indians (MI) pacer Jofra Archer. Livingstone hammered Archer for a hattrick of sixes in his penultimate over of an IPL 2023 encounter, scoring 82 not out off 42 balls with four sixes and seven fours.
Livingstone’s whirlwind innings, combined with Jitesh Sharma’s 49 off 27 balls, propelled the home side to 214 for 3, while Archer finished with a woeful 0/56 in four overs. Archer let up 27 runs in his final over, including three consecutive sixes to begin the over and five wides to close it.
Livingstone disclosed during the mid-innings break that he had lunch earlier in the day with England teammate Archer and that the MI pacer had warned him that he would pursue him.
“Spin was fairly difficult to play, but it seemed like a decent pitch. It’s a good score, and I made an effort to make sure we didn’t lose wickets in waves. We will need to bowl well because the pitch is superb. It feels good to get moving. Archer told me he was going to pursue me during lunch today. He (Archer) is aware of my dislikes. I picked up bowlers today well, but playing spin was a little trickier,” Livingstone remarked during the mid-innings break.
MI, though, won the competition with the last laugh. Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan each scored 75 runs off 41 balls to aid Rohit Sharma’s team in completing the most impressive chase of the IPL 2023 season. With seven balls remaining, MI reached the target and moved PBKS to sixth position on the points table.
The Mumbai Indians’ inexperienced pace attack and Jofra Archer’s rustiness are hurting them, as they have let up 200+ runs in each of their last four games. “It is something that we need to look at—certain options we need to take in the middle of the overs—how to shut off overs,” Rohit said during the post-game presentation. We’ve given up 200 goals in three or four games, so we need to find those options in the middle.
His skipper wasn’t surprised at all by Suryakumar Yadav’s 66 off 31 balls, including some magnificent drives behind the square. “Look, he has been acting in that manner for a while. His ability to play behind the wicket is a strength, and he made excellent use of it. Tim and Tilak played well in the end, and Surya and Kishan batted well, according to Rohit.”
