New Zealand allows its assistant coaches to guide Islamabad United in PSL 2026

Which means both will miss the upcoming international assignments against South Africa and Bangladesh.

Updated on: Mar 14, 2026, 06:11:59 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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New Zealand's assistant coaches Luke Ronchi and Jacob Oram have been granted permission to coach Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) starting later this month.

New Zealand assistant coaches going to the PSL comes as a surprise, in light of the team's humiliating defeat in the T20 World Cup final. (PTI)

Which means both the former Kiwi cricketers will miss the upcoming international assignments against South Africa and Bangladesh, which will take place during the PSL. Ronchi is the head coach of the Islamabad franchise, while Oram will serve as his assistant.

Also Read: IPL 2026 in danger? The telltale signs suggest so

New Zealand performance manager Mike Sandle said their decision to let them go for the PSL is going to be beneficial in the long run.

“This is a great chance for Luke and Jake to further their coaching experience and grow their skills outside of the New Zealand cricket environment,” NZC.NZ quoted Sandle as saying.

“Just like our players, our coaches are in demand around the world and we believe Luke and Jake will not only personally benefit from their time at the PSL, but they will also be able to bring back knowledge and IP that can aid the Black Caps and NZC [New Zealand Cricket] in the future,” he added.

Sandle also informed that in the absence of Ronchi and Oram, who are the replacements for the upcoming international challenges, to assist head coach Rob Walter.

“One of the added bonuses of Luke and Jake heading to the PSL is the opportunity it affords other coaches in the NZC network,” Sandle said.

“It will be great to have Jonny [Bassett-Graham for SA series], Graeme [ Aldridge for SA series], and Brendon [Donkers for Bangladesh series] join the Black Caps and I’m sure they will get a lot out of their time in the environment and the experience of working alongside our players and support staff.

“Their involvement will naturally help strengthen our high-performance coaching depth, and we hope the coaches themselves will be able to take back some of what they’ve learned to benefit the domestic set-ups," he said.

The Kiwis take on South Africa in the first of five T20Is at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui on Sunday. This means New Zealand return to cricketing action real quick, having lost to India in the T20 World Cup final just this past Sunday at Ahmedabad. They had beaten South Africa in the semis, and the upcoming rubber gives the Proteas a big chance to avenge their humiliating defeat earlier this month.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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