(Cricket news) The Punjab Kings and England all-rounder Liam Livingstone departed India early in an attempt to have his knee “sorted” in time for the T20 World Cup in June.

Livingstone went down in the field during a loss to the Lucknow Super Giants last month, which caused him to miss two games early in the IPL season. Livingstone has experienced a string of muscle problems over the last two years. Later on, Punjab Kings benched him in an attempt to discover the ideal overseas player combination; however, on Thursday, he made a comeback to the team during their loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

“IPL done for another year, had to get my knee sorted for the upcoming World Cup,” Livingstone wrote on Instagram. “Thanks once again to the Punjab Kings fans for all their love and support. Disappointing season as a team and personally, but as always I loved every minute of playing in the IPL”.

With PBKS now eliminated from the tournament, with four wins and eight defeats from their first 12 games, Livingstone has returned home. We understands that his knee injury is not serious enough to place his prospects of travelling to the T20 World Cup in doubt but requires a period of rest before England play Pakistan in four T20Is later this month.

Livingstone struggled to make an impact for Punjab Kings in what he described as a “disappointing” campaign. He made 111 runs at 22.20 in seven innings, striking at 142.30, and took three wickets in 12 overs. It extends a lean winter for him in franchise cricket after a quiet SA20 season with MI Cape Town and a two-match stint with Sharjah Warriors.

The other members of England’s World Cup squad who have been at the IPL – Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Phil Salt and Reece Topley – will begin to return home in the next few days and are expected back in the country this weekend. They will meet up in Leeds ahead of England’s first T20I at Headingley on May 22.

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