‘Very different to anything else’: Liam Livingstone eyes ‘blockbuster’ IPL 2026 with SRH

SunRisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) latest recruit, and perhaps their most attacking one, Liam Livingstone, cannot wait to wear the team jersey and go about his business in IPL 2026. Out of the England cricket circuit for over a year now, Livingstone aims to have a blockbuster IPL 2026, somewhat similar to his maiden season with Punjab Kings (PBKS), while eyeing an improbable comeback to the national side.

In an exclusive chat with ESPNcricinfo, Livingstone dropped a bombshell on his fallen relationship with England’s current coaching regime, and how challenging it is for him to make a comeback as long as those in charge are holding their respective positions. However, his only chance is through performances, and he seeks IPL 2026 as the perfect opportunity to make a return to England’s white-ball teams, with the 2027 ODI World Cup looming.

Speaking highly of the cash-rich league, where he was part of the title-winning Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) last year, and bought by SRH for $1.4m (INR 13 crore) ahead of this season, Livingstone labels IPL a very different experience to anything else across the year.

"Hopefully, I can have a season like the season I had in my first year at Punjab [Kings, in 2022], where I felt like I was playing really well and won loads of games from No. 4.

“[The IPL] is a very different experience to anything else throughout the year - it's a long time away from home - but if you give it everything you've got, it can repay you very nicely,” Livingstone said.

SRH will play the tournament opener this time against the defending champions at the M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru.

‘Fallen relationship with ENG coaches’

Livingstone last featured for England during their forgettable Champions Trophy 2025 campaign, himself calling it ‘the worst experience of his career’.

Detailing more on his fallen relationship with England's head coach and other top brass members, Liam reveals that when he asked them about assisting him with his form, they told him that he cares too much and that he needs to chill a bit.

"I was asking for help, and pretty much all I got was that I care too much and I need to chill out a little bit, and everything will take care of itself," Liam said.

That’s not even it.

After England dropped him from their white-ball teams last summer, Livingstone approached ECB Director Robert Key and even McCullum, with his phone calls with the two lasting less than a minute.

"I don't think it [the call] would have reached a minute. I asked why (dropping Liam for ENG’s home series against WI in May last year), they said they wanted to try someone else. That was off Baz. Wrighty [outgoing selector Luke Wright] didn't reach out, and Brooky [captain Harry Brook] sent me a text.

"That probably sums that group up as a collective. Keysy said nothing - [he] said I'll speak to you in the summer. I actually rang him one day, and he said he was busy at a Test camp at Loughborough. And then I didn't hear off him until the end of September.

"That was a bit of an eye-opening experience about the group and the regime: if you're in, you're in, and if you're not in, no one cares about you. That put my mind at ease that my cricket was going to be more enjoyable going forward,” he revealed.