English all-rounder Liam Livingstone has come out to reveal significant details about how the ownership groups of IPL franchises influence team selection decisions in the marquee tournament.

Livingstone, who was signed by Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping INR 13 crore for the 2026 season, has revealed players' mindsets depending on whether they will be playing that season. 

"I think there are like three ways of the IPL. You are locked in and everything kind of set out for you. There's like a fringe: you may or may not play. And your thoughts are, 'If I play, this is how it's going to go,” Livingstone said, speaking on the Overlap Cricket Podcast.

The 32-year-old played just two games for the team, scoring 1 and 14 in his batting outings. He revealed conversations he had with head coach Daniel Vettori about his place in the side after the team was going into games with just three overseas players. He shed light on how the owners preferred a particular player, due to which he was a common feature in the XI. 

And like me, this year, when I went there we got a lad in the auction that Mumbai Indians really wanted.

We had more money, so we ended up getting him. The owners loved him. So he was locked in to play for us. When we didn't have Cummins, we were playing only three overseas (players). So I asked Dan (Vettori), why we are playing only three overseas? He was like, 'the owners love this lad. When Cummins comes back in we are not going to change our thing'. Which is great. I knew that I was not going to play unless somebody got injured. So then it's a completely different mindset when you know, you are not going to play,” he added.

The Sunrisers had a respectable season in IPL 2026.

After a slow start, they made their way to the playoffs on the back of brilliant performances with bat and ball. They finished the season in third place, with 18 points in 14 games, but were beaten by the Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator.