England’s Liam Livingstone draws huge £1.125m from Punjab Kings at IPL auction

Liam Livingstone was sold to Punjab Kings for £1.125million on the second day of the 2022 Indian Premier League auction.

The England international was involved in a bidding war in Bengaluru and saw his price rocket compared to last year, following a breakthrough 12 months.

Livingstone fetched £74,000 in 2021 and – despite scoring only 42 runs in five innings for Rajasthan Royals – the Lancashire all-rounder went on to enjoy a sensational summer in white-ball cricket.

A maiden international Twenty20 hundred off 42 balls for England against Pakistan in July was followed by being named Most Valuable Player in the inaugural edition of The Hundred.

With Livingstone’s leg-spin also effective at last year’s T20 World Cup, he became one of the most expensive English players ever bought at an IPL auction on Sunday when Punjab Kings secured his services with a successful bid of just over £1million.

Meanwhile, auctioneer Hugh Edmeades provided an update on his health before the second day of the auction.

He collapsed on Saturday midway through day one of the auction with organisers later saying he had suffered from low blood pressure.

“I want to thank all those people around the world who sent me good wishes,” Edmeades said in a video posted on the IPL’s official Twitter account.

“I am very sorry I can’t be with you in person today.

“As you can see, I am absolutely fine but I just felt I wouldn’t be able to give a 100 per cent performance, which is unfair to the BCCI, the IPL, the bidders and most importantly it would be unfair on the players.”

In addition to Livingstone, another England international in Jofra Archer had plenty to celebrate after he was bought for £782,000 by Mumbai Indians.

The World Cup-winning paceman has largely been out of action since March due to a troublesome elbow issue which has required surgery on two occasions, most recently in December.

Archer is not expected to be fit for this season’s tournament but Mumbai Indians were determined to secure his services and now have the quick for the 2023 season, if they use their option to retain him.

Sussex team-mate Tymal Mills was also snapped up by the franchise for £146,000 and looks likely to fill the void left by Archer in the upcoming campaign, having deputised for him at last year’s T20 World Cup.

England white-ball captain Eoin Morgan went unsold despite captaining Kolkata Knight Riders to the final in 2021 and Dawid Malan, the former world number one batter in the sprint format, also failed to entice any bids.

Chris Jordan initially went unsold before Chennai Super Kings snapped him up for £352,000 and it was a similar story for Sam Billings (£195,000) and Alex Hales (£146,000), who were both signed by Kolkata Knight Riders in the latter stages of the auction.

Mark Wood, a regular for England in all formats, was a big-money signing on Saturday after new franchise Lucknow Super Giants parted with around £734,000 for the seamer.

Jonny Bairstow (£650,000) and Jason Roy (£195,000) were also on the move with Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, another new side, securing the services of the explosive batters.

Punjab also snapped up Benny Howell while David Willey was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final round of bidding.

Adil Rashid and Reece Topley were among some of the other English-based players to go unsold, while Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali had already been retained by Rajasthan and Chennai Super Kings respectively.