SRH bought Liam Livingstone for INR 13 crore.
Sunrisers Hyderabad went into the IPL 2026 auction with the third-highest purse of INR 25.50 crore. The SRH squad was already full of explosive batters, but they still bought Liam Livingstone for a whopping INR 13 crore. Their planning was shrewd, as they kept the budget to buy him later in the auction when he went unsold, suggesting he was always part of their plans.
Now, the real question arises whether SRH really needed Livingstone for IPL 2026. Since Pat Cummins’ introduction to the setup, the Orange Army has consistently tried to get as many explosive batters as possible. The acquisition of Ishan Kishan at such a high price in the mega auction is one such example, and they again went for several batters and all-rounders.
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SRH spent more than half of their budget to get Liam Livingstone when they already had multiple batters and all-rounders in the squad. Their top five is mostly settled: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Heinrich Klaasen. With the likes of Aniket Verma and Brydon Carse already there, SRH already had options in the lower middle order, with the likes of Salil Arora and Smaran Ravichandran as decent backups.
In this setup, SRH will be forced to use Livingstone at No.6, where RCB tried him last season and failed. In fact, he has never succeeded in the lower middle order despite being exceptional against pacers, for he requires a few balls and a set stage to thrive. Since 2024, whenever he has batted at No.5 or below, his average and strike rate have been a mere 20.10 and 123.31, compared to 34.46 and 157.79 in the top four.
In the ongoing ILT20 2025/26, Livingstone has a strike rate of 174.22, with two fifties in four innings, all of which have come at No.4. If SRH slot him in the top four somehow, Nitish will have to bat out of position, as happened in the previous season, and he will be wasted again. At No.4, he is a better option than Livingstone, as he is terrific against spin and will work well around Ishan Kishan.
After releasing Abhinav Manohar, the temptation to have another lower-middle-order batter was understandable, but Livingstone doesn’t solve those issues. He, in fact, adds more batting position problems. Clearly, the English all-rounder is a misfit in the SRH squad, much like Kishan.
Additionally, SRH already had Kamindu Mendis and Harsh Dubey, both of whom bring value to both departments, even if they specialise in only one. In fact, Kamindu is more suited to No.6 than Livingstone after his recent improvements. He has a strike rate of 152.35 and a balls-per-boundary ratio of 6.07 at this position this year, and he has worked on his boundary-hitting ability.
Then, Kamindu also gave them variety with his ambidextrous bowling and could have consistently bowled a couple of overs. He has an average of 19.70 and an economy rate of 8.09 in 2025. There were doubts over his T20 credentials, but the Sri Lankan all-rounder has definitely improved overall in this format.
Additionally, Harsh Dubey, despite bowling being his primary suit, is more than a capable batter. He already has a T20 fifty and has proved his batting value multiple times in the longest format. Obviously, SRH won’t trust him as a batter, but the potential is definitely there, and his presence will lengthen their batting lineup.
A major loophole in the SRH squad was the lack of a quality wrist spinner, with inexperienced Zeeshan Ansari their only option. SRH had released Rahul Chahar and Adam Zampa. Still, they didn’t try to get someone like Ravi Bishnoi and rather spent on another unknown commodity, Krains Fuletra.
Sure, Fuletra is skilled and will develop with time, but the immediate options for the XI look bleak. None of their current spin options is developed enough to play as a lead spinner in IPL. SRH might have the weakest spin department among all 10 teams.
The pace department also looks vulnerable. Jaydev Unadkat and Harshal Patel are decent, but can be expensive in death overs, while Pat Cummins doesn’t really bring T20 bowling credentials. There are also fitness concerns with Cummins after recent back issues.
Their investments in fast bowlers revolved around uncapped Indian players, which can backfire massively. Despite all the potential and long-term value, SRH didn’t really need those many inexperienced options and will be short in bowling quality throughout the season. Even Shivam Mavi, who has some previous experience, is not a bankable option after not progressing enough.
Surely, there was room for someone like Matt Henry or Mustafizur Rahman, for whom they didn’t even try. Their excessive focus on getting more and more batters already created numerous issues last season, and they still haven’t learnt from them. The lack of enough solid spinners and pacers makes their investment in misfit Liam Livingstone a questionable tactic.
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