Ferguson Punjab Kings pacer Lockie is slated to miss most of the first half of IPL 2026. The New Zealand pacer postponed his trip to India after his child was born, and according to reports, before joining the Shreyas Iyer-led team for IPL 2026, he will continue to stay at home for a short time. He has especially confirmed his plans ahead of New Zealand’s third T20I against South Africa in Auckland.
He spoke of the family commitment he is currently under and added to having a few weeks break before heading for India where the cash-rich league is.
“Just had a wee son, trying to spend as much time as I can at home and help the wife out. I’ll have a couple of weeks break after this, before I sort of make my way to the latter part of the IPL and then I’m off for winter,” Ferguson said in a pre-match press conference.
His schedule has been full in the past few weeks. During the 2026 T20 World Cup held in India and Sri Lanka, the ace pacer had a short stint of paternity leave, after which he returned to the squad for the Super Eight stage. He returned to cricket soon after the tournament and played in Hamilton, taking 3 wickets for 16 runs against South Africa. He will take a long break after the ongoing series.
Punjab have many options to replace Ferguson.
Punjab, on the other hand, had a different expectation from Ferguson as they expected him to strengthen their pace attack. They are already looking for internal replacements, with Australia left-arm seamer Ben Dwarshuis being one of the top contenders to fill in the gap. The 31-year-old was bought for INR 4.4 crore and has a wealth of T20 experience, topped with a record in the Big Bash League as one of the competition’s leading wicket takers.
The franchise had also retained the stock of pace bowling options of Arshdeep singh, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Azmatullah Omarzai, Yash Thakur, Vyshak vijaykumar and Marcus Stoinis in a bid to have the multiple options in pace bowling despite the absence of Ferguson for some time.
Beyond IPL, Ferguson still weighs his international future without a fixed timeframe. He does not have a central contract but still has the drive to play for New Zealand in future international tournaments.
They thought this was my last game (laughs). No, I am still very much committed to playing for New Zealand. Looking forward to the next two World Cups, there’s a great opportunity for our squad,” Ferguson said.
