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Exclusive: Livingstone hopes to play 'entertaining cricket' for Team Abu Dhabi

England's Liam Livingstone plays a shot during the T20 World Cup semifinal against New Zealand at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. (AFP)

Livingstone also backs his team featuring Chris Gayle to challenge for the title

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by

Rituraj Borkakoty

Published: Thu 18 Nov 2021, 5:27 PM

Last updated: Thu 18 Nov 2021, 5:44 PM

It was not a surprise that Liam Livingstone was a like-for-like replacement for the injured Ben Stokes in the Rajasthan Royals and England squads for the IPL and the T20 World Cup.

For, Livingstone hits bowlers for fun and also rolls his arm over in shorter formats.

And the 28-year-old England batting all-rounder, who is gearing up to lead Team Abu Dhabi when the Abu Dhabi T10 League starts at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday, believes his game is tailor-made for the sport’s shortest format.

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“Not so much (difference in approach), because somebody that plays the way as I do, whether it's T20, T10 or T5, whatever it is, I always try to take the game on and try and play positive cricket and aggressive cricket. So, T10 is going to be no different,” Livingstone told Khaleej Times on Thursday.

Livingstone also backs his team featuring Chris Gayle to challenge for the title.

“We've got a very strong squad. We've got a lot of skills with the ball and we've got a lot of power with the bat. I think this is what you need in this format,” he said.

“But you've got to accept that it's so unpredictable in this format and anybody can win on any given day. I guess the biggest part is that it's an entertaining format of the game and hopefully over the next couple of weeks, we can play some entertaining cricket.”

The fifth season of the T10 League will also enter the record books for making Sarah Taylor, the former England wicketkeeper-batswoman, the first female coach in a men’s franchise league.

Livingstone is looking forward to working with Taylor, who has been appointed as assistant coach of Team Abu Dhabi.

“No matter what your gender is if you are a coach and Sarah is obviously a great coach. She had a great playing career and I think her skills were unbelievable. And hopefully, she can bring that into her coaching career as well. So it's great for her to get an opportunity and I'm looking forward to working with her,” he said.

Finally, Livingstone opened up on England’s T20 World Cup semifinal heartbreak against New Zealand.

“T20 cricket is very unpredictable. And like we saw, games can change within two or three overs, certainly, it happened in that one game against the Kiwis. I guess you got to accept that these things can happen, especially in knockout cricket,” he said.

“But the mood (in the team), we had a great time during the World Cup. We played some really good cricket. We showed that we are a really strong side.”

Livingstone admitted, though, that the toss did play a big role in the tournament with the chasing team winning the vast majority of the matches in UAE.

“The toss, I don’t think, is a major factor in a World Cup, but I guess as it went on, even in the IPL, the toss played a big part. And we saw in the three knockout games,” he said.

“It’s something we have to accept and it’s something we have to move on from, it’s something that we can sort of use to inspire ourselves for the next World Cup in 12 months’ time!”

Rituraj Borkakoty

Published: Thu 18 Nov 2021, 5:27 PM

Last updated: Thu 18 Nov 2021, 5:44 PM

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