Williamson joins Lucknow Super Giants as strategic advisor ahead of IPL 2026 – ESPN

Kane Williamson has joined Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL as a strategic advisor, the team’s owner Sanjiv Goenka posted on social media on Thursday morning.
“His leadership, strategic insight, deep understanding of the game, and ability to inspire players make him an invaluable addition to the team,” Goenka wrote of the 35-year-old former New Zealand captain.
Williamson, who has been a part of the Super Giants franchise while with their Durban team in the SA20 league, last played for New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final against India in Dubai in March this year. He has not walked away from international cricket yet, but, having opted for a casual contract with New Zealand Cricket, his appearances are likely to be sporadic.
He will miss the upcoming T20I series at home against England, but is targeting a comeback in the ODIs that will follow. The first of those 50-over matches takes place at his home town in Tauranga on October 26.
Though a veteran of the IPL, Williamson hasn’t had much to do the last two seasons as a player. In IPL 2023, playing for Gujarat Titans (GT), he picked up a knee injury in their first game of the season and played no further part in the competition. In IPL 2024, while also with GT, he played just two games, scoring 27 runs in 27 balls. He didn’t get a team at the mega auction ahead of IPL 2025.
More recently, he was at The Hundred in England. Williamson had a good if unspectacular run there, scoring 204 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 129.93 for London Spirit, who finished at No. 7 on the eight-team table.
Williamson has no experience being part of a team’s support staff, but is an immensely respected figure in international cricket. He captained New Zealand to the 2019 ODI World Cup final and won the inaugural World Test Championship two years later. LSG, led by Rishabh Pant and coached by Justin Langer, finished in seventh place in IPL 2025, the same as in IPL 2024, after finishing third in their first two seasons in IPL 2022 and 2023.
Though Williamson was with Durban’s Super Giants in SA20 2024, he was not retained, and the franchise had conversations with him about joining the revamped coaching staff at LSG.
It is also understood that Carl Crowe, who was with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for several years as spin consultant, will join LSG. Crowe becomes the second coach from the KKR stables to move to LSG after former India bowling coach Bharat Arun was appointed in July this year. Arun was with KKR for three seasons as bowling coach.
After Zaheer Khan’s exit, not made public by the franchise yet, LSG are yet to confirm the make-up of the support staff, including whether Langer will continue as head coach, or if Lance Klusener and Vijay Dahiya, both assistant coaches, will stay with the team. Langer and Williamson worked together at Spirit during the Hundred.

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