IPL 2025: Why is Liam Livingstone not playing for RCB against PBKS?

Liam Livingstone, who was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 9.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction, has been dropped from the playing XI for match no. 37 against the Punjab Kings. Captain Rajat Patidar announced Romario Shepherd as a replacement for the English power hitter at the toss.

RCB vs PBKS: Liam Livingstone Dropped

RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and elected to bat against the home side, PBKS, in match no. 37 of the IPL 2025 in Mullanpur. Shockingly, RCB announced their playing XI for the match with Romario Shepherd replacing Liam Livingstone, whose performance has been below average this season till now.

Both teams’ playing XI’s

Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Josh Inglis, Nehal Wadhera, Shashank Singh, Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal

Substitutes: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Suryansh Shedge, Glenn Maxwell, Harpreet Brar, Praveen Dubey

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar, Romario Shepherd, Jitesh Sharma, Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

Substitutes: Swapnil Singh, Rasikh Salam, Devdutt Padikkal, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell

Liam Livingstone in IPL 2025 

Royal Challengers Bangalore had a lot of expectations from Liam Livingstone in the middle order, but he could not perform as per these expectations. The INR 9.75 crore player of RCB played 7 matches in IPL 2025, scoring 87 runs with an average of 17.40 and a strike rate of 127.94.

The West Indian power hitter Romario Shepherd replaced Livingstone in the playing XI of RCB against Punjab Kings. The 30-year-old all-rounder is known for his power hitting in the lower middle order. He has played 10 matches in IPL and scored 115 runs with an average of 115 and took 4 wickets.

Additionally, RCB also had the option to give an opportunity to young English all-rounder Jacob Bethell in place of Livingstone, but they went with experience in the crucial game.