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England all-rounder Liam Livingstone has criticized the pitches used in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
Livingstone, who turned out for Sunrisers Hyderabad, called the run-fests ‘boring’ and said there was little skill involved when batters were repeatedly clearing the boundary.
“We were playing Mumbai, and we chased 230 or 240 in 18 overs. I thought it is actually quite boring. Just watching people go 6, 6, 6. There is no real skill involved,” he said during the Stick To Cricket podcast.
He described the pitches as extremely flat and said high-scoring matches were common despite the presence of big boundaries.
“The pitches were so flat and the Impact Player just comes in. The boundaries are big enough but the pitches are so flat. At Mumbai, the ball just absolutely flies. In Hyderabad, he played at the same pitch maybe five or six times,” he added.
The 32-year-old heaped high praise on teenage sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, noting that he had never seen a player like him in IPL.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’ve been there; this year was my seventh IPL. And I’ve played with and against some very good players, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
Livingstone praised Sooryavanshi’s clean ball-striking ability, noting that his six-hitting prowess makes bowlers clueless.
Livingstone praised Sooryavanshi’s clean ball-striking ability, noting that his six-hitting prowess constantly puts bowlers under pressure.
“He’s just like the way he hits a ball, he hits a ball so clean, yeah. He never really mis-hits a ball, never really mis-hits a ball the whole time. And wherever the ball, the first time we got him out with a bouncer, first ball he hit it straight up.”
But then the development that he made as a player from the start of that tournament to the end was like… we were bowling bouncers, and he was hitting it over third man, and then you’d bowl this side, he’d hit it there; you bowl full, he hit it there; bowl a low full toss, he’d flick it over there. And you’re like, ‘Well, hold on a minute, where do we bowl?'” he concluded.
