England’s Liam Livingstone smashed 60 and took two wickets to lead Punjab Kings to an emphatic 54-run win over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League yesterday.
Livingstone, who became the most expensive overseas player in this season’s IPL auction when Punjab bought the batting all-rounder for $1.52mn, guided his team to 180 for eight in Mumbai.
He then took two wickets with his spin, including a key scalp of Shivam Dube, who hit 57, as Punjab bowled out Chennai for 126 in 18 overs. “The first two games didn’t go my way, but (it’s) nice to contribute to a win,” said man-of-the-match Livingstone. “We got to a target we thought was defendable and the seam bowers set it up for us.”
It was the third successive loss for holders Chennai – four-time IPL winners – this season.
“I think we lost too many wickets in the powerplay and didn’t find momentum from ball one,” said new Chennai skipper Ravindra Jadeja.
Livingstone’s attacking batting set up victory for Punjab as he smashed five fours and five sixes in his 32-ball knock and put on 95 runs with Shikhar Dhawan, who made 33, for the third wicket.
Livingstone, who hit England’s fastest T20 century in 42 balls in a game against Pakistan last year, smashed Chennai left-arm medium Mukesh Choudhary for the biggest six of the tournament so far at 108 metres.
In the only match today, Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two franchises added to the expanded 10-team IPL, take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.

BRIEF SCORES
Punjab Kings 180 for 8 (Liam Livingstone 60; Chris Jordan 2 for 23) beat Chennai Super Kings 126 all out  (Shivam Dube 57; Rahul Chahar 3 for 25) by 54 runs.