On Tuesday night in Mumbai, Punjab Kings hammered table-toppers Gujarat Titans, winning by 8 wickets with 24 balls to spare. Liam Livingstone, England’s hard-hitting all-rounder, enthralled the crowd with his aggressive stroke play as he smashed 30 runs off only 10 balls. This included a colossal six that measured 117 metres.
Liam Livingstone hits 117-metre six against GT
Gujarat Titans bowled some tight overs, and Shikhar Dhawan struggled in the middle overs, putting the 2022 IPL match between Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings in jeopardy. Despite Dhawan’s half-century and Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s rebuilding act, Punjab was left with 27 to win in the final 30 balls, and the match was still theirs to lose.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Liam Livingstone stunned everyone with a huge hit. Even the bowler appeared to be pleased with the big hit.
“I have seen Chris Gayle do that often, but this was something different,” exclaimed Punjab Kings head coach Anil Kumble after the game.
In the 16th over, Mohammed Shami was called in to add to Punjab’s problems, but Livingstone had other ideas. Livingstone cleared the front leg to swing his bat with all his might against the opening ball of the over, the one angling in and on the length and muscled it sky-high over deep square leg for a six. And it wasn’t just any six. It went on a 117-meter run, the longest of the season, and appeared to clear the roof.
The strike was so massive that even Shami was taken aback and was spotted beaming at his teammate, while PBKS captain Mayank Agarwal got out of his seat and was completely taken aback.
Livingstone then smashed the next two deliveries for sixes as well – against the full toss on leg, he hammered it over mid-wicket for a six, then against the shorter one that followed, he got the thick outside edge of the bat to send the ball high over the wicketkeeper’s head for a six.
Livingstone then smashed two more boundaries in the following three balls, one over square leg and the other over third man, as Punjab won by 8 wickets in the 16th ver and ended Gujarat’s winning streak.
