Former Indian spinner and commentator Murali Kartik expressed dissatisfaction with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bringing in Liam Livingstone from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ahead of the IPL 2027 retention deadline.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Kartik remarked that the England all-rounder failed to make an impact during his stints with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and SRH, adding that he has not been successful so far in his IPL career.
Livingstone has played for four franchises in the IPL: SRH, RCB, Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals. In 51 IPL games, he scored only 1066 runs at an average of 25.38 with seven half-centuries.
“It’s an interesting thing with Livingstone. RCB had him, Sunrisers have had him, it’s not as if they have used him, and also he has not been successful. Punjab has had him, so he has gone a few places. I don’t understand the rationale behind it,” Kartik said on Cricbuzz.
Further, Kartik couldn’t understand the rationale behind losing Khaleel Ahmed to SRH despite the former left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan becoming CSK’s new head coach, giving an instance of how Ashish Nehra transformed a lot of young bowlers at Gujarat Titans.
“A left-arm seamer going there as a head coach, and actually, he [Khaleel] is such a skillful bowler, and he would have benefited, like lots of people have benefited with Ashish being there, you look at the number of bowlers who have transformed themselves from the time they have gone to GT, I was surprised that somebody like Khaleel, who is so skillful, I thought he would have benefited, and he has actually been one of their better bowlers. And Nathan Ellis can give you some death bowling,” he added.
CSK concluded the IPL 2026 season at eighth place, failing to qualify for playoffs for the third consecutive season.
