Liam Livingstone Scored 15 Runs Last IPL. Why Did CSK Trade for Him?

Liam Livingstone’s last innings for Sunrisers Hyderabad ended with a catch by Dewald Brevis off Anshul Kamboj. He had made one run off five balls. Both men were playing for Chennai Super Kings, the team that has just traded for him. Hyderabad had signed the England all-rounder for ₹13 crore. Chennai will pay him ₹6 crore for IPL 2027. What can CSK get out of a player who faced just 25 balls for Hyderabad all season?

What happened?

The IPL confirmed the four-player trade on November 5. Livingstone and Australian seam-bowling all-rounder Jack Edwards go to Chennai. Left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed and Australian fast bowler Nathan Ellis go to Hyderabad. Livingstone’s fee was revised down. The other three move at their existing fees. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, Livingstone said he was looking forward to wearing Chennai’s “famous yellow shirt”.

What did Hyderabad actually get from him?

Two innings and 15 runs. Livingstone came in at No. 4 against Lucknow Super Giants on April 5 and made 14 off 20. Against Chennai on April 18, he came in at No. 8 and made one off five. Hyderabad gave him no overs in either match. The first innings was a chance to bat with most of the innings still to come. The second was a late cameo. Together they tell us how little Hyderabad used him, and how little he did with the chances he got.

When was Livingstone at his best in the IPL?

With Punjab Kings in 2022 and 2023. He scored 437 runs in the first season and 279 in the second. That is 716 of his 1,066 IPL runs. At his 2022 strike rate of 182.08, he scored a little more than nine runs for every five balls he faced. He hit 34 sixes that season.

Punjab gave him a regular place near the top of the middle order. He batted at No. 4 in 18 of his 23 innings across those two seasons. In 17 of the 23 he was already at the crease before the halfway mark. In Mumbai in 2022, he came in during the second over against Chennai, hit 60 off 32 balls and later dismissed Shivam Dube and Dwayne Bravo with consecutive deliveries. He bowled in 12 of Punjab’s 14 matches that year.

Did moving down the order explain the decline?

It explains part of the change in his job. The runs had already fallen to 111 in his final Punjab season, when he moved between Nos. 4 and 7. At Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2025, he scored 112 runs in eight innings and batted at No. 4 only twice. He made four runs across those two innings. There was still a glimpse of his value at No. 5 in the final, when he hit two sixes in a 25 off 15 against his old Punjab side. Bengaluru also used him as a bowler in five of his 10 matches. A higher batting slot can give him more time. It takes more than a promotion to bring back his 2022 form.

Does Chepauk suit his batting?

He has done well there in small samples. He made 40 off 24 for Punjab in a successful chase against Chennai in 2023. For Bengaluru in 2025, he hit Noor Ahmad for six and was bowled by him next ball, finishing with 10 off nine. He then took two wickets. Those are his only two IPL batting innings at Chepauk through 2026.

His peak years offer a better clue about whom to send him in against. In 2022 and 2023 he scored 515 off 245 balls from pace bowlers, a strike rate of 210. Against spinners he made 201 off 166, a strike rate of 121. That is a good reason for Chennai to think about who is bowling when it sends him out. Simply pencilling him in to attack spin in the middle overs would overlook where most of his runs came from.

Has he still got that kind of hitting in him?

The best recent evidence comes from England. After the 2026 IPL, Livingstone scored 456 runs for Lancashire in the group stage of the Vitality Blast, striking at 164.62 and hitting 35 sixes. He won the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s men’s player of the year award for the competition. The Blast tells us he was still capable of putting together a productive run of T20 innings in 2026. Chennai will need to see whether he can do it against IPL attacks again.

Where could Chennai fit him?

No. 4 is the obvious place to try. Chennai spread that position across several batters in 2026, with Kartik Sharma appearing there most often. Dewald Brevis most often batted at No. 5 and Dube at No. 6. If Chennai plays Livingstone and Brevis together, it uses two overseas places on middle-order batters. Under the 2026 rules, teams could name only four overseas players in their starting XI. Noor Ahmad bowled in all 14 of Chennai’s matches last season. Livingstone can turn the ball both ways, but he has 13 IPL wickets in 51 matches and has mostly been used as a part-time option. Keeping a specialist spinner and an overseas pace option narrows the room for another overseas batter or all-rounder.

Chennai’s plan should become clearer after teams submit their retention lists by November 17 and the mini-auction takes place in Goa on December 16. The first team sheet will show if Livingstone has won a place. The first time Chennai loses two early wickets will tell us more. That is when it can send him in to do the job he did best for Punjab.