BARROVIAN Liam Livingstone has given his biggest hint yet that he is set to make his long-awaited return to top-class cricket.

The big-hitter from Barrow has endured a frustrating four months on the sidelines after sustaining a knee injury during his England test debut against Pakistan in the first test in Rawalpindi.

He had already suffered with an injury-hit 2022, sitting much of the year out with an ankle problem picked up during The Hundred tournament, but recovered in time to feature for England in the T20 World Cup in Australia.

The all-rounder was signed up for IPL (Indian Premier League) outfit Punjab Kings for the ongoing 2023 season after blasting 437 runs in 14 games and recording four half-centuries during an impressive 2022 campaign for the Kings.

Livingstone took to Twitter on Monday teasing fans with a possible imminent return to action.

It said: "It’s been a long couple months, but it's time to get back to work… see you soon @PunjabKings."

The Punjab franchise replied to the tweet shortly after, saying: "This tweet came just in time to lift our mood after a difficult day. See you soon."

Punkab Kings have played three matches so far, winning two and losing one to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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On April 9, during the coverage of Lancashire's County Championship game, Livingstone stated that he had taken a few injections to get up and running. Furthermore, he added the probable dates on which Punjab Kings fans can see him get back in action for the franchise.

"I'm getting there, finally”, he told LancsTV.

"It's been a long road.

"Maybe towards the end of this week or the start of next week, I'll fly out to India and get going again.

"Feeling much better - I had some injections midway through last week.

"It's settled it down a lot, finally been able to get outside and do some running and get back to proper cricket stuff.

"That's probably been about four or five days now, so just trying to build back up to match fitness now."

Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan and company play defending champions Gujarat Titans on Thursday, April 13, and it remains to be seen if Livingstone takes the field in the clash.