Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday announced the appointment of New Zealand star Tim Southee as the team’s bowling coach for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2026 season. This symbolizes the continuous improvement of KKR’s backroom team. A few weeks ago, the franchise announced Abhishek Nair as the new head coach of the team, who will replace Chandrakant Pandit after the conclusion of the IPL 2025 campaign.

Interestingly, Nair is also the head coach of UP Warriors for the upcoming Women’s Premier League season. After this, KKR confirmed the appointment of Shane Watson as assistant coach.

One of the most accomplished fast bowlers of his generation, Southee has been a cornerstone of New Zealand cricket for over 15 years. Having represented his country in 100+ Test matches, over 150 ODIs and 120+ T20 Internationals, Southee has taken over 700 international wickets across all formats.

He captained New Zealand in multiple formats and played a key role in their 2019 ICC World Cup campaign and 2021 ICC World Test Championship victory.