“Will never pick you” - Yusuf Pathan lashes out at Liam Livingstone for smiling after dismissal in PBKS vs RR game

Former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan slammed Punjab Kings (PBKS) batter Liam Livingstone after he was seen smiling following his dismissal in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Friday, May 19. Pathan opined that if he was the coach, captain, or mentor of Punjab Kings, he would never pick the England batter again.

Livingstone was bowled for 9 off 13 deliveries in match number 66 of IPL 2023 in Dharamsala. He tried to slog RR pacer Navdeep Saini but ended up getting bowled. Following his dismissal, he was seen with a smile on his face, perhaps a sarcastic one, even as his team was in deep trouble at 50/4.

The PBKS batter’s reaction did not go down well with Pathan. The former cricketer, who was on air at the time of the dismissal, commented:

“If we were coach, captain or mentor of Punjab Kings and you laugh after getting out to that sort of a shot then we will never pick you (to play in IPL) again.”

Former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh agreed with Pathan’s views and was also surprised with Livingstone’s reaction to his dismissal.

While Livingstone struggled on Friday, the England cricketer has had a decent run in IPL 2023. In nine matches, he has scored 279 runs at an average of 34.88 and a strike rate of 163.16, with two fifties.

PBKS recovered well following Livingstone’s dismissal to reach 187/5 as Sam Curran (49* off 31), Jitesh Sharma (44 off 28) and Shahrukh Khan (41* off 23) played blazing knocks.

Rajasthan, however, went past the total in 19.4 overs courtesy of good performances from Devdutt Padikkal (51 off 30), Yashasvi Jaiswal (50 off 36), and Shimron Hetmyer (46 off 28).

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“We lost too many wickets in the powerplay” - PBKS skipper Shikhar Dhawan

Reflecting on the loss, Punjab skipper Shikhar Dhawan opined that too many wickets in the powerplay, as well as poor fielding, cost them.

At the post-match presentation, he commented:

“We lost too many wickets in the powerplay and that put us on the backfoot, but Curran, Jitesh and Shahrukh got us back in the game. The bowling was good, but the fielding wasn't great, the dropped catches cost us the game. I feel 200 should have been a good total on this pitch. We could have done better in all the areas I think.”

Reflecting on what went wrong for them in the season, Dhawan added:

“Sometimes the batting was clicking, and sometimes the bowling was clicking, we couldn't put up those performances together. But it's a young group, so we have learnt a lot of things this season.”

PBKS were eliminated from the playoffs race following their four-wicket loss to RR.