• Home
  • Cricket News
  • Lsg To Hire Kane Williamson As Strategic Adviser In Huge Overhaul Before Ipl 2026 Report

LSG to hire Kane Williamson as strategic adviser in huge overhaul before IPL 2026: Report

Debashis Sarangi

Kane Williamson in action [Source: AFP]Kane Williamson in action [Source: AFP]

According to emerging reports, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) are going to appoint New Zealand great Kane Williamson as their strategic adviser for the upcoming Indian Premier League season. This is a major development, signalling LSG’s plan to make the most of Williamson’s experience in the upcoming mini auction.

Williamson to join LSG as strategic adviser

Earlier, several reports stated that LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka was not too pleased with Zaheer Khan’s performance as the mentor. In fact, some reliable media outlets revealed that Zaheer stepped down from the mentor’s role due to differences with Goenka and head coach Justin Langer. 

Amid the speculations, Times of India (TOI) reported that Sanjeev Goenka has made up his mind to bring in Kane Williamson as LSG’s strategic adviser for the 2026 season. Williamson, once hailed as a reliable batter in the IPL, thus seems all set to kickstart his second innings and perform a new role in the tournament. Meanwhile, England's former cricketer Carl Crowe will likely be appointed as LSG's spin bowling coach. 

Although Williamson is still active as a cricketer, his injury-prone body has restricted him from participating in the marquee tournament. The New Zealand great has played just three IPL matches since the 2023 season, highlighting his sporadic appearances in the competition. 

Why Kane Williamson?

Although Williamson hasn’t played many IPL matches of late, he’s still considered one of the finest tacticians in white-ball cricket. The legendary cricketer led New Zealand to the 2019 World Cup final before confirming their berth in the final of the 2021 T20 World Cup. His inspirational leadership and shrewd tactics helped the BlackCaps register 39 T20I wins during his captaincy stint, making him one of New Zealand’s most astute skippers of all time. 

Additionally, being a modern-day cricketer, Kane Williamson understands what it takes to build a perfect T20 team. He is aware of the ever-changing dynamics of the shortest format and hence is genuinely an ideal candidate for the adviser’s role. As an astute thinker, Williamson can collaborate with Justin Langer to shape up the SuperGiants' set-up by finalising their releases and filling up the gaps with suitable names through a judicious usage of the purse amount in the upcoming IPL 2026 mini auction. 

Update: Lucknow SuperGiants owner Sanjiv Goenka later confirmed Williamson's appointment as the strategic adviser for the franchise ahead of the mini auction.